Real Relationship ReMastered
by BillAtWork
Summary: This is not new. In fact, it's 9 years old. But the original was... well, embarrassing. Hopefully, I can fix some of those flaws.
1. The Doghouse

_I don't own Chuck. Actually, I don't own much of anything._

 _I'm not really un-retiring… not yet anyway. This is not new content. In fact, it is almost ten years old. Like many of us at the time, I quickly fell in love with the love story of two unlikely people, Chuck Bartowski and Sarah Walker. We were all frustrated that the show's first season was interrupted by a writer's strike at the point when it looked like they were just about to get together. In hindsight, that 'just about' took two more years. But anyway, I went looking for something to fill my desire to know more about this couple. I eventually stumbled onto this site._

 _I didn't know that anything like fanfiction existed. There was already a community of folks dedicated to telling the exact story I was dying to read. It was a match made in heaven. They were having so much fun talking about their stories, and life in general, that I wanted to join. So I decided to write a story, mostly as an excuse to join their conversation._

 _The thing is, I'm not a writer. As a result that first effort was… well, embarrassing. My hand was shaking so badly that I could barely click the link to post the first chapter. But something magical happened. I received my first review… and I was hooked._

 _The community quickly started helping me to grow as a writer. One of the first, LeeCan, sorta took me under his wing. And gradually, I got better. One of the things I learned over the years was to not be in such a hurry to tell the story, to allow it to evolve._

 _About the storyline. At the time this was originally written, between seasons one and two, we thought of Sarah as a reluctant spy. She really longed for home and family. Over time, we learned that she was a more complex character. I have always seen her (and still do) as lovesick… in love for the first time in her life and not knowing how to deal with it. At first, I was admittedly in far too big of a hurry to get her there. One of the things that I always loved about Chuck and Sarah is that they were so different. They look at things differently. They both had serious flaws. One is strong where the other was weak. It's actually recognizing those differences that make them such an unbreakable couple. Together, they fill in each other's gaps and depend on each other. So instead of WT/WT, I try and put them together and let them work out those differences as a couple._

 _So hopefully, I can fix those things here. One other thing. When I first started writing, there were several teenaged girls, just a little younger than my daughter, in the community who were my friends. Call me old fashioned, but I was uncomfortable writing anything about sex knowing they would be reading. Now those girls are grown women. So I'm not nearly as uncomfortable. This will always be T. But it will be more descriptive._

 _Look, I get that interest in things Chuck has waned. That's as it should be. So, while I'd always love to hear from you, I'm not doing this for hits or reviews. I'm doing this for me. Hopefully you can enjoy it as well._

 **The Doghouse**

x-x-x-x-x

It had already been a long night.

Sarah, Casey, and Chuck were driving home… in silence.

Sarah sat in the dark van going through the events of the evening in her mind… and fought to keep in the frustrated sigh.

Oh, the mission had been successful, from almost every perspective. The De Carlos drug cartel was officially no more. With the information they had learned, Beckman had already seized their financial accounts. Her teams were in the process of rounding up the remaining key members. It was a huge win for the world. Even personally there were some good things. They had caught the bad guys. Casey was able to bust a few heads. Sarah even got to use the new roundhouse kick she had been working on in the gym. She smiled briefly as she remembered the shocked look on that scumbag's face as he was falling to the ground. That was always fun.

And Chuck… as always, Chuck was brilliant. He was their secret weapon, the only reason they had a chance. He even flashed on some unexpected very bad guys and was able to give Casey a heads up just before he was ambushed. Chuck had almost certainly saved Casey's life tonight… for the umpteenth time.

Most people would call tonight a success, accept the praise from the grateful brass, and look forward to the next mission. Unfortunately, Sarah Walker wasn't most people. She was a perfectionist. And there was a flaw in their team that most wouldn't recognize. She wasn't even sure that Casey recognized it.

It was a pattern that was becoming all too common. On almost every one of these types of missions, Sarah would need to use her… um, special skills, to keep some mark occupied. Admittedly it wasn't that tough. Most men melted when she flashed those baby blues. But then, at some point in the evening, she would look at Chuck and see his sad eyes. Damn his big sad eyes.

This was complicated. The reality was that this was her problem more than Chuck's. She could forgive him being jealous. Truth be told, part of her got that certain tingle every time it happened. But on a mission there was no room for jealousy or cute tingles. Drawing attention to yourself could get you killed. Chuck was definitely drawing attention to himself. Tonight, even the mark had noticed. It called for some quick thinking to get his focus back on her. Fortunately, leaning over to pick up that paper from the floor… and giving him the cheap thrill of thinking he had copped a full view of her chest down her top did the trick.

It was hard to blame Chuck for this… well, not completely anyway. The game they had been playing for the past year and more was just as much her doing. The plain truth was that she was intentionally sending him mixed signals. How could she possibly blame him for being confused? It was just a matter of time before something very bad was going to happen. Sarah just couldn't let that happen. She hadn't given up her chance at a normal life, endured countless hours of training, and risked her life more times than she could count to fail now. Try as she might to stay professional, she knew she was failing. She knew herself well enough to understand that failing… at anything really, would never be acceptable. Even worse, if it went bad, it wouldn't take the brass long at all to figure out a solution. They would take her away from him. That couldn't happen.

Sarah knew that staying professional gave her the best chance at protecting Chuck. It was something that she had to remind herself of almost every night. After all, that's what really mattered… protecting Chuck. It was her job… mostly because it was her sworn duty but partly because she couldn't bear the thought of something bad happening to him. Or was it mostly because she couldn't bear the thought of something bad happening to him?

It was an uncomfortable question… one that was constantly lurking around in her head. Sarah was spared having to answer it when they finally, mercifully, arrived at Casey's for the usual post mission debriefing. Whichever it was, Sarah knew that something had to change.

She also knew what that change had to be.

x-x-x-x-x

The debriefing had gone incredibly well. Sarah knew that it would. The brass didn't know or care about the problems in a mission. They just cared about the results. Sarah couldn't deny that the results had been very good. Beckman was in a better mood than Sarah could remember.

In years past, Sarah would have lived for these moments. She enjoyed getting praise in these debriefing sessions. After all, it was much more fun than the alternative of standing at attention getting screamed at when things didn't go well. Tonight oddly, the praise had the opposite effect. She knew that they were lucky… also knew that luck wouldn't last forever. The more the General raved about the fine job, the more Sarah fumed. She wasn't quite sure exactly how yet… she just knew that she had to fix this. Fortunately, just as Sarah was ready to scream, the meeting mercifully ended.

Sarah could tell that Casey knew something was wrong. He didn't say anything but he had that smirk… the one that she hated… the one that begged to be punched off his stupid face. There was no sense letting him know anything. Especially since she wasn't sure how this was going to turn out. Sarah turned to Chuck who was getting ready to leave and forced a flat smile. "Walk me to my car?"

Casey wasn't the only one who knew something was wrong. Chuck could obviously feel that she was upset. He also knew her well enough to be pretty sure that he was somehow the root cause. He would have much rather retreated to the relative safety of his room and allow her the space to cool off. But he also knew that it wasn't a request. "Okay," he relied rather dejectedly.

As they walked to the car, Chuck kept waiting for the dressing down that he knew was coming. With each step, the anticipation grew and grew. Finally when they arrived at the car his nerves were on edge. She must really be pissed. There were few things in life that were worse than a Sarah Walker silent treatment. Not knowing what else to do, he opened her door for her. "Well, goodnight, Sarah," he said.

"Get in," was her terse response. "We need to talk."

Talk about a surprise. But, again, it wasn't a request. Chuck had no idea where they were headed as she drove in silence. After what seemed like forever, they pulled into Sarah's building. They walked into her room, still without saying a word.

As each silent second passed, Chuck absolutely knew that he was in more and more trouble. Finally, he couldn't take the tension any longer. "Um, Sarah, what did you want to talk about?" he asked.

All of Sarah's pent up frustration came pouring out. She rounded on him angrily. "I want to know what the hell your problem is?" she demanded, maybe a little louder than she had meant to.

Chuck wasn't surprised at her anger, had been waiting for it. He had studied her for over a year, knew full well that she was a hothead. With Sarah, frustration quickly boiled over into anger. She'd calm down in a bit… if he could survive that long. At least the screaming was better than the silent treatment. He knew exactly what she meant… but maybe playing dumb would buy him a few moments to calm her down. It was worth a shot. "I don't know what you mean," he answered as he stared at the floor.

No sale. "Come on, Chuck," Sarah growled sarcastically. "You know damned well what I'm talking about. Are you trying to get us killed? Do you think this is some sort of game? Do you realize how dangerous these people are? Do you? You just can't keep blowing our cover every time I need to get close to someone. I'm just so pissed at you right now. I don't think I've ever been this pissed."

A new record. At least that was something impressive. Chuck wisely stood there and let her rant as she detailed his many screw ups over the past weeks. It went on for a long time… and it was filled with an impressive string of obscenities. When Sarah used that language, she was really pissed. The worse part was, she was absolutely right. It was affecting the missions. He had no right to be jealous. They weren't a real couple and never would be. She had made that very clear. Besides, he had never seen the fire in her eyes he was now seeing. So holding his tongue seemed like the smart play. Not that he had much of a choice because he wouldn't have gotten a word in edgewise anyway.

Finally she was done talking. "Well?" she demanded. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

Chuck looked the floor. Holding his tongue was no longer an option. But he also knew that he needed to calm her down. "I'm really sorry," he began. "I get jealous… and I have absolutely no right. I know that. We're not a real couple. You're doing your job. I just can't help it." That last part was so soft that Sarah could barely hear him. "It's too hard to watch you give to other men what I want so badly. I guess I panic a little when I see you with those men. That's not your problem. I do get that. It's mine. I'll try harder. I truly am sorry."

Sarah had been so pent up with her own emotions that she was surprised by his admission. She had expected him to put up more of a fight. As she looked at Chuck standing there trying to blink away tears, the guilt that had always been there for her, an inch below the surface, was suddenly overwhelming. Here was the sweetest man in the world, standing there apologizing for being in love with her. It took everything she had not to throw her arms around him and comfort him. But she also knew that she needed to resolve this and tonight was her chance. "I know, Chuck," she said. "This isn't completely your fault. I struggle with it too. I thought if we kept our feelings out of the picture, we'd be okay. That was my decision and it's obviously not working… for either of us. We'll need to try something else. The way I see it, we only have two choices. But either way we have to resolve this tonight."

Chuck wondered what choices she could mean. Maybe she was pondering two different ways to kick his ass… she still looked pretty pissed. But she was in charge. He slightly nodded to her to let her know she had his attention.

Sarah just stood there looking at him for a long time. "The first choice is obvious," she finally began. "I'll ask for a reassignment and they'll assign someone who can be more professional to take my place. Hopefully that person will be able to protect you better than I can. Of course, that means we'll never see each other again. That would be hard."

Sarah was bluffing and she knew it. It was an empty threat. It wouldn't be hard. It would be impossible. That ship had sailed a long time ago when she didn't leave with Bryce. "The second choice is more complicated," she continued, "We admit that we have feelings for each other and start having more of a real relationship."

Naturally that got Chuck's attention. His face shot up to meet Sarah's, a smile forming on his lips.

"Before you get too excited," Sarah warned. "I have some serious conditions."

Chuck didn't respond but his eyes told Sarah to continue.

Sarah willed the anger from her voice. This was her only chance to keep control of this situation. "We have to face the realities of our situation," she began. "You're a very valuable asset to the nation's security. Very bad people are trying to capture or kill you. I'm assigned to protect you. Chuck, no matter how real we get, that has to be my first priority. It's the only way this works. My first condition is that whenever we're on assignments, which is most of the time, our relationship is strictly professional. I'm your handler and you are my asset. When I tell you to stay in the car, you stay in the damn car. When I tell you to run from the bomb, you run from the bomb. Agreed?

Chuck simply nodded, too stunned to speak.

Sarah looked at him. He was so cute. But this wasn't the time to let down her guard. So she pressed her advantage. "There's more," she continued. "My second condition is that our superiors can't find out. That would take things out of my hands. You have no idea what I'm putting on the line here. Having a real relationship with your asset goes against every single piece of training I've ever had. They would reassign me faster than Jeff can find porn on the Internet. That also means Casey can't know. I'm not sure what he would do and I don't want to find out. I'm sure he suspects something already. Agreed?"

Chuck just nodded again for her to continue.

Now Sarah was fighting to keep the grin from her face. "Third condition," she said. "This is the most important one. I'm a CIA agent. I'm trained to get close to men. The way I do that is by flirting with them. It's a fact of life. I'm very good at it. It's a weapon that has saved our lives countless times. Since I don't know any other way, it's going to continue to regularly happen. You're going to have to witness that without freaking out." She paused for effect. "Okay, those are my conditions. Do you have any questions?"

"I have a couple," Chuck replied, eyes still firmly on the floor. "How will this thing work?"

"I'm not sure what you mean," Sarah replied.

"Will this relationship include… umm… physical things… like… kissing?"

Sarah knew that she needed to relax the drill sergeant routine a little. So she didn't answer, not really. She just stepped up and pressed her lips to his. At first it was hard and urgent. But the longer the kiss lingered, it became much more loving. Sarah quickly realized that this moment was the new highlight of her life.

Chuck obviously thought so too. His grin was threatening to break his face in two. "I'd call that a big yes," he said as soon as the kiss broke. "Sex?"

Sarah narrowed her eyes. "Come on Chuck," she replied disgustedly. "Seriously. Is that all men ever think about? Is that all you want from me … sex?"

Chuck's eyes widened in horror as he tried to retreat. "Of course not," he said quickly. "I'm sorry that it came out like that. Sex isn't that important to me. Not that I mean it's not important. I mean… um, I mean I'm just trying to figure out how real this relationship is going to be."

Sarah could no longer keep the grin from her face. His bumbling was just so damned cute. "I'm teasing you a little," she said. "I'll answer your question this way. I've dreamt about us every single night for over a year. There is no way that you're getting out of this deal without giving me regular sex… when that starts is sort of up to you. Right now I'm too pissed at you to even think about it. When you fix that, we'll talk about sex."

Sarah's was now openly laughing as she was enjoying Chuck's obvious discomfort. "You said that you had a couple of questions," she continued. "What is your second one?"

Chuck finally looked Sarah in the eye and she could see a twinkle starting to form. "You're offering me a real relationship," he stated. "Are you going to tell me how you really feel about me?"

That stopped Sarah's laughing in its tracks. She was shocked. She hadn't expected Chuck to ask that. That was pretty stupid. Knowing Chuck, it was obvious that's the first thing he'd want to know. Damn. Why hadn't she thought this through? Now it was her turn to look at the floor. "You know that I'm not very good at talking about my feelings," she said softly. "Is this something you really need to hear?"

Now it was Chuck's turn to press his advantage. "I need to hear it once," he replied. "I get that you're the strong, silent type. I'm fine with that. But so far, this has sounded like a mission briefing. No offense, but I'd like to know there's at least a little romance involved."

Sarah looked at him uncomfortably. He was right. It did sound like a mission briefing. Why wouldn't it? That's all she knew. But what to tell him that wouldn't make this worse? She knew that she absolutely couldn't tell him the truth. That would be the worst possible thing. It was terrifying. A year ago she didn't even believe in love. Love was something for suckers and silly dreamers. And even now, long after she could no longer deny it to herself, it was still scary. It implied a future. And that led directly into the second thing.

If she told Chuck that she was helplessly in love with him and had been for a long time, he'd go absolutely nuts. As soon as she scraped him off the ceiling, he'd immediately start planning their wedding and looking for good schools for their kids. Not only wasn't she ready for those discussions, it would take all of the control that she had just carefully negotiated to keep him safe and flush it down the toilet. They would be right back to where they were. But if she wasn't going to tell him the truth, what should she say? How about, 'I like you a lot?' No, that was far too tame. How about 'I have feelings for you?' No, not only was that was too formal, he'd immediately ask her for details of those feelings. How about 'I'm crazy about you?' No, he would hear that as just a coward's way to say I love you. How about 'I care for you?' Perfect… it was intimate enough but also ambiguous.

Sarah felt her hands shaking. It was most definitely one of those crossroads moments that changed your life forever. Finally she just had to move. _Come on Sarah. You've been in lots of scarier situation than this. You can do this. Just tell the man that you care for him._ She took a deep breath, forced herself to look up from the floor and into Chuck's eyes as she told him.

"I love you."

Huh? After her firm self-pep talk, why did she say that? It was the worst thing she could have possibly done. Chuck's grin was the biggest she'd ever seen. It wouldn't be long before she'd be scraping him off that ceiling. Sarah kept her eyes focused on his to keep from breaking down. Why on earth did 'I love you' come out of her mouth? But the honest truth was that it felt good… damned good. Maybe she'd need him to scrape her off that same ceiling.

To his credit, Chuck recognized that she was struggling and didn't press it. "Thank you for telling me," he said. "I know how hard that was for you. Just for the record, I love you too. I think you probably have already figured that out."

Chuck held out his arms as an invitation which was quickly accepted. Sarah wrapped her arms around Chuck and buried her head in his chest. Chuck waited for quite some time without speaking just enjoying the moment. Finally he spoke. "I think that I have some conditions too."

Sarah looked up at him questioningly.

Chuck started laughing. "Well, more like requests than conditions," he quickly explained. "I know that you don't believe this, but I do understand our situation. I see how men react to you. You can take almost any man and make him feel like he is king of the world just by batting your eyes and smiling at him. It's a major reason why we're so successful. I get that you actually loathe those guys. Please promise me that you'll never do that to me. I need to know that your emotions are real. I'd much rather have you mad at me so I can fix it, than pretend to be okay."

Sarah looked up at Chuck, keeping her head on his chest. "I promise," she said softly.

"Thank you," Chuck said. "Second… look. I know there a lot of things about you that you can't tell me about. There are even more things that you're uncomfortable telling me. I'm okay with that. But if I ask you something that I can't know, or you don't want to talk about, just tell me. I'm always going to want to know things about you. But I promise to let it drop… for now anyway. Please don't make some story up or get frustrated and shut down."

Sarah nodded her head to let Chuck know that she understood.

"I'll be honest," Chuck admitted. "I'm never going to like watching you flirting with other men. Let's be honest. Sometimes it even goes a little beyond flirting. I understand that it's your job. I understand you have to do it. I even understand that I have to deal with it. It's just … just … you're just so good at it."

Sarah stepped back from Chuck so that they were at arm's length but still holding hands. "I don't expect you to like it," she said with a soft smile. "You shouldn't like it. There would be something wrong if you did like it. I don't like it any more than you do. What I'm asking of you is unreasonable. I understand that. But in our current circumstance, it's required that you don't let it affect the mission. If you can bottle up those feelings and talk to me about it later, I might be able to find a way to make it up to you."

Chuck's eyebrows arched as he tried to match Sarah's suggestive tone while trying not to laugh. "In that case, did I mention to you how jealous I was of the way you were looking at Casey at the debriefing tonight?" he asked.

And there it was. That was her Chuck, her guy. He could always make her laugh. "Nice try, bud," Sarah laughed as she playfully slapped him on the chest.

That got them both laughing. "Okay, seriously," Chuck said as he grabbed her hand again. "I know that you're not that happy with me right now. I have that coming. I've been acting like a jerk. I just want you to know that you really helped me tonight. I'm really, really sorry. I promise I'll do better."

Sarah nodded. "That's all that I ask."

Chuck smiled. "I can't stand it when you're mad at me. I never could. It makes me feel empty. Before I go home, I was sort of hoping that, just this once, you could give me a pass on the doghouse thing?"

Sarah looked into Chuck's eyes. He probably didn't know this, but he was already out of the doghouse. In fact, she was resisting the strong urge to start ripping his clothes off right here. But she had already waited well over a year. It would probably be a mistake to start off their new relationship with sex tonight. But how would she ever be able to tell him no when looking into those eyes? She knew that she had better figure something out… damn soon… but not tonight.

She reached up, grabbed Chuck's head, and pulled him down to be able to kiss him. Just before their lips met, she whispered, "just this once."

This second kiss was ten times as intense. Sarah knew that, if this was up to her, and it probably was, there was no way to keep this from ending up in bed tonight, especially given that his hand was inside of her shirt and rapidly approaching second base territory. That wouldn't be smart. But actually, Chuck stopped. "I'd better go," he said. "If we don't stop now, it will just get frustrating. Casey would know if I spent the night. Besides, I have something to prove to you first. You really helped me tonight. Thank you."

Of course, he was right. It was a very good sign that he was thinking in those terms because she was too far gone to stop. His being so on board with their agreement only fanned the flames, so it was a little late to not get frustrated. But she was pretty used to that. Sarah nodded. "I'll drive you home," she agreed sadly. "Chuck, I'm sorry that this is so complicated. It's going to happen… soon. I want this way more than you do."

Chuck smiled.

"I seriously doubt that."

x-x-x-x-x


	2. The Test

_I don't own Chuck. Actually, I don't own much of anything._

 _This is not new content. In fact, it is almost ten years old. Like many of us at the time, I quickly fell in love with the love story of two unlikely people, Chuck Bartowski and Sarah Walker. We were all frustrated that the show's first season was interrupted by a writer's strike right at the point when it looked like they were just about to get together. In hindsight, that 'just about' took two more years. But anyway, I went looking for something to fill my desire to know more about this couple. I eventually stumbled onto this site._

 _I didn't know that anything like fanfiction existed. There was already a community of folks dedicated to telling the exact story I was dying to read. It was a match made in heaven. They were having so much fun talking about their stories, and life in general, that I wanted to join. So I decided to write a story, mostly as an excuse to join their conversation._

 _The thing is, I'm not a writer. As a result that first effort was… well, embarrassing. My hand was shaking so badly that I could barely click the link to post the first chapter. But something magical happened. I received my first review… and I was hooked._

 _The community quickly started helping me to grow as a writer. One of the first, LeeCan, sorta took me under his wing. I'm pretty sure that I still have the scars from BrickRoad teaching me grammar. BTW, English sucks. Anyway gradually, I got better. One of the things I learned over the years was to not be in such a hurry to tell the story, to allow it to evolve._

 _About the storyline. At the time this was originally written, between seasons one and two, we thought of Sarah as a reluctant spy. She really longed for home and family. Over time, we learned that she was a more complex character. I have always seen her (and still do) as in love for the first time in her life. At first, I was admittedly in far too big of a hurry to get her there. One of the things that I always loved about Chuck and Sarah is that they were so different. They look at things differently. They both had serious flaws. One is strong where the other was weak. It's actually recognizing those differences that make them such an unbreakable couple. Together, they fill in each other's gaps and depend on each other. So instead of WT/WT, I try and put them together and let them work out those differences as a couple._

 _So hopefully, I can fix those flaws here. When I first started writing, there were several teenaged girls, just a little younger than my daughter, who were my friends. Call me old fashioned, but I was uncomfortable writing anything about sex knowing they would be reading. Now those girls are grown women. So I'm not nearly as uncomfortable. This will always be comfortably T. But it will be more descriptive._

 _Look, I get that interest in things Chuck has waned. That's as it should be. So, while I'd always love to hear from you, I'm not doing this for hits or reviews. I'm doing this for me. Hopefully you can enjoy it as well._

 **The Test**

x-x-x-x-x

Chuck and Casey almost always drove to work in relative silence. Casey wasn't a big talker to begin with. And lately they had been working their shifts at the Buy More every day and then going on some mission almost every night. Burning the candle at both ends was starting to wear on all of them. Chuck usually didn't want to risk annoying him so he kept his mouth shut. This morning however, he couldn't help himself. His life had dramatically changed last night and would never be the same again. She loved him. That was almost too much to hope for. "Morning, big guy," he said cheerfully as he slapped Casey on the back. "Kill anyone since last night?"

Casey glared at Chuck. This was the one part of the day when the moron wasn't constantly talking. "Not yet", he growled. "I'm not a morning person. I don't usually like to kill anyone until I've had my first cup of coffee. Keep talking, and I might be willing to make an exception."

Chuck had learned long ago that this was just Casey's gruff exterior. So he laughed. "Come on Casey," he replied. "You couldn't kill me. It would violate your mission objectives. Imagine all of the paperwork you'd have to fill out. Who needs that? Besides, you'd miss this brilliant repartee way too much."

"Maybe," Casey grunted. "But you can't deny a person a little fantasy, can you? Lord knows, I've heard enough of your fantasies. Every night you're babbling in your sleep about something. Don't you see Agent Walker enough during the day? You have to dream about her too?"

Well, actually, he had a point. Sarah did star in a lot of his dreams. Some of them he might actually be able to tell her about some day. The others? Not so much. Chuck just laughed. "I'm afraid to think of what you might dream about. It must be disturbing."

Casey looked over at Chuck and narrowed his eyes. "What is up with you this morning?"

Chuck was dying to tell someone the wonderful turn of events of last night. The thing is, everyone he knew already thought that he was with Sarah… except Casey. But that would be fatal… maybe not literally to him, but definitely to his love life. "Can't a guy be in a good mood?" he replied.

"Whatever," Casey grunted.

x-x-x-x-x

It went without saying that Chuck was in a very good mood. Morgan noticed. Anna noticed. Even Big Mike noticed.

Of course, it was usually not a good thing when Big Mike noticed you. "Damn, Bartowski," he bellowed. "If you're going to sing out loud, at least learn to carry a tune. Not only are you scaring the customers, you're making me lose my appreciation for music."

After that Chuck decided it would be better to enjoy his good mood in silence. He waited a little later than normal to go see Sarah. He wanted to make sure the lunch rush was over so she would be able to talk.

Chuck always had a pang of nostalgia whenever he entered the Orange Orange. Admittedly, it was probably a better cover for Sarah than the Wienerlicious had been. It was much quieter and closer to the Buy More. She had a lot more freedom. Castle was directly below them. Sarah was the most beautiful woman in the world no matter what she was wearing. But truthfully, he missed the old uniform… especially the pigtails. In an odd way, it was the sexiest thing he had ever seen.

Sarah's smile lit up the already bright room when she saw him. "I was starting to worry that you weren't coming over today," she said. "Were you too busy with urgent computer emergencies?"

Chuck grinned at her teasing. Obviously, he wasn't the only one in a good mood today. That was a very good sign. "No," he answered. "I just wanted to wait until after the lunch rush so we could talk."

That got Sarah laughing. "What lunch rush?" she asked. "Our lunch rush is when someone orders two toppings instead of one. So, what did you want to talk about?"

Chuck could feel his palms sweating. This was the first real test of how real their new relationship really was. "Well," he started. "I was hoping that, due to last night's change in our status, we could go on our first real date tonight."

If Chuck was worried, he needn't have. Sarah's smile was relaxed and she nodded. "What did you have in mind?" she asked.

The good news was that their cover was as a couple. They were forced to go on pretend dates about once a week. They were nice. But there was always a tension. Hopefully, that would no longer be true. "There's a new Italian restaurant that just opened down the street called Guido's," Chuck said. "It's a little nicer than the places we usually go. I've never been there but I've heard that the food is excellent. Then maybe we'll catch a movie. I'll even let you pick the movie."

If Chuck was worried that he was pushing things to fast… dinner and a movie was more of a date than usual, again, he needn't have. Her smile never faded. "That sounds like fun," she replied. "But I think you should pick the movie. You're more up on what would be good than I am. I haven't been to a movie in so long… I trust your judgment more than mine."

"Great," Chuck said. "I was hoping that you'd say that. I have the movie already picked out. How about I pick you up at 6:00?"

"I'll be ready."

"I'll see you then," Chuck said as he turned to leave.

Of course Sarah knew full well that this was a test. She had been expecting it. He'd want to know how much of this was real. How could she blame him for being insecure? It was a big change… and came with a ton of rules. Maybe it was time for his first lesson. "Chuck," she called. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

Chuck looked at her questioningly.

"Come on, Chuck," Sarah said softly. "Cover boyfriends sometimes kiss their girlfriend goodbye but real boyfriends always do."

Sarah was torn. She knew that he was uncomfortable with PDA. But she also wanted to tell him something important… and words weren't her strength. So the kiss lingered substantially longer than a typical boyfriend/girlfriend goodbye. She put her hands behind his head and pulled him close.

"Sorry," Chuck sighed when the long, loving kiss broke. "I'm a bit rusty at being a boyfriend."

Sarah knew that she would love kissing him for real like that. She had imagined it thousands of times. But she wasn't prepared to lose this much control. The weakness in her knees was a new and wonderful sensation. He was such an amazing kisser. If that relatively short kiss had her this aroused, maybe they'd skip the movie and she'd take him back to her hotel, throw him on the bed, and have her way with him.

He had to know, didn't he? This stupid outfit didn't hide much of her figure, even under normal circumstances. Chuck always religiously avoided looking at her chest, but even so, how could he not feel her excitement poking into his? Certainly the group of teenaged boys that came in every afternoon after school to gawk at her were going to notice that she had her high-beams on… extra high. It was usually more cute than annoying. Sarah had long ago stopped being shy about guys gawking at her chest, even awkward teens. Sometimes she even intentionally teased them. In her current mood, it was going to be a red letter day for them. Maybe Chuck was just being sweet and not embarrass her by gloating about it. That thought only threw more gas on her already raging fire.

Suddenly Sarah began to think of places to drag him right now and get this real relationship thing started with a bang. She could probably turn off surveillance in one of the Castle conference rooms without generating too much suspicion. But that wouldn't be smart, not after her lecture last night. She was the trained agent. She was the one who was supposed to keep herself under control and insist that they be careful. But she had stopped trying to deny that careful was pretty much out the window when it came to Chuck. She had already waited for more than one very frustrating year. Then again, a few more hours wouldn't kill her… probably.

The new unopened box of condoms was already sitting on her nightstand… intentionally placed where he would see them with his name written on it… and maybe get the hint. Chuck was a romantic. He'd want their first time to be romantic. He'd go slowly to set the mood. And normally, she would allow him to take the lead. She was looking forward to his being all sweet with all of the amazing foreplay… someday. But hopefully, for the first few times anyway, Chuck would be ready for her to take charge, keep the sweet talking to a minimum, and get much more action oriented.

"That was some goodbye kiss," Chuck said. "It was sort of ironic. Now I don't want to leave."

And there it was… today's reminder of why this was the first man she had ever been in love with. Charles Irving Bartowski was the one person in the world who could always make her laugh. He'd also be the last man that she would ever be in love with. How great was that? But that kind of thinking was still a little scary… even with Chuck. So she just grinned at him.

"See you tonight."

x-x-x-x-x

The rest of Chuck's shift was the longest he could ever imagine. Every time he looked at the clock, it had barely moved. His good mood evaporated as he became more and more frustrated with the clock.

Thanks to his secure phone, Casey knew some details about tonight's date before Chuck was even back in the store. Sarah always filed a report whenever she was taking the asset out of controlled areas by herself. Even though Bartowski complained about it incessantly, it wasn't all that unusual for her to insist that he spend the night at her place for cover reasons. Even though she put her foot down and insisted that there would be no surveillance in her private residence, Walker could more than handle anything that came up. Honestly, Casey was looking forward far too much to having the entire night off to think about the spectacle of them spending the night together dancing around their lady feelings. Walker was smitten even more than he was. That was pretty obvious. But she was also a pro's pro. She wouldn't do anything stupid.

Finally the clock hit 5:00 and Chuck's shift was mercifully over. Chuck set a new speed record getting home and into the shower. Just at the stroke of 6:00, he knocked at Sarah's door.

Chuck was simply not prepared for the sight of Sarah standing before him. Of course she was the most beautiful woman in the world. It went without saying that she always looked great. That was a given. But tonight, she'd out done herself. She had on a blue cocktail dress that matched her eyes perfectly. It was showing the maximum amount of cleavage that would still be considered respectable. The slit up her leg was provocative but still respectable. Matching shoes and handbag completed the ensemble. She looked like an angel… assuming, of course, that you could consider an angel being so incredibly sexy. Chuck had never seen anything so beautiful in his life. He wanted to tell Sarah how nice she looked.

Unfortunately, "Wow," was all that came out.

Fortunately, he was too cute to take any offense. Sarah just grinned. "I guess that means you approve," she said as she did a quick spin to give Chuck the total view.

"Wow," Chuck repeated. "Sarah, you look amazing. I mean you always look great but tonight… Wow."

Sarah was very careful as she leaned in to peck Chuck on the lips. Any repeat of this afternoon's kiss… with her bed only a couple of steps away and… well they weren't going anywhere tonight. Their dinner would be delivered pizza and soda. If it had been up to Sarah, she would have answered the door nearly naked, and that's exactly how things would have gone down. But this was important to him. A nice, normal date with his very real girlfriend on his arm was just what Chuck needed to feel comfortable. So she could wait a few more hours to rip his clothes off. "Thanks," she said. "I've been saving this dress for a special occasion." She didn't tell him the whole truth… that she had bought this dress months ago and had been saving it for this exact special occasion. "It might be a little dressy for dinner and a movie, but I wanted to make sure I looked nice for our first date."

All Chuck could do was to sigh. "Well, as President Bush would say, mission accomplished. Wow."

Guido's was a very nice place. It had a rather large bar and about twenty tables. Maybe it was a little out of Chuck's budget, but tonight was special. It was the kind of upscale place where you could have a casual conversation without being pretentious. Chuck always was self-conscious about being on a date with Sarah. Now that it was real, that feeling was magnified. He felt every eye on them as they entered the restaurant. Of course they were all asking themselves, what horrible bet did she lose? Chuck chuckled to himself as they were led to the table.

They ordered a glass of wine while they looked over the menu. Naturally, the waiter fell all over himself bringing the wine right away. "One of the many, many good things about being on a date with the most beautiful woman in the world," Chuck quipped. "Is that we can anticipate excellent service all evening." He responded to Sarah's look. "I'm not jealous," he quickly corrected. "I know that's not allowed. But who wouldn't want every possible chance to look down that dress? The thought has even crossed my mind."

That got Sarah laughing. Like Chuck would ever try and look down her dress. If anything, he was too shy about that. But that was okay. Later tonight, he wouldn't have to look down the dress. It would be lying on the floor. But first, she had an important point to make. "Boyfriends are allowed to get jealous," she said. "It's sweet. Chuck, I never said that you can't get jealous. There are times when I'm going to get jealous enough for both of us. Just not on missions. Agreed?"

Chuck nodded. He was about to take his first sip when his eyes met those of a man across the room. Then it happened. He flashed in rapid secession. A burning cross. A Convention floor. The skull and crossbones poison symbol.

Sarah had seen Chuck flash plenty of times. She knew what it looked like. She waited until it was over. "Did you just flash?"

Chuck nodded. "See that blond haired man two tables over?" he asked. "His name is Rick White. He is the head of the White Supremacy group named Pure Blood. The other three men are also group members. They are planning to attack the Democratic National Convention if Barack Obama wins the nomination. They're in the process of making Ricin to put into the ventilation system. It will kill over ten thousand people."

Sarah's heart sank. Of all the lousy luck. Why tonight? She had wanted this to be perfect for him. There would be plenty of chances to test the boundaries of their new relationship on missions… like almost every freaking night. Now there was no choice. "I'm so sorry," Sarah sighed. "I'm afraid that our date is on hold. We're on a mission now. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yeah," Chuck sighed. "I knew this was too good to be true. What are my orders?"

Sarah wanted to tell him how proud she was at how calm he was being. But this wasn't the time. Seconds counted. They couldn't allow this lead to get away. "Okay, here's the plan," she said, keeping her voice low. "I'm going to try and get close to White and see if I can get him to show me where they're making the Ricin. In a minute I'm going to get mad at you and throw my drink in your face. I want you to storm out of here, go to the car, and call Casey. Brief him on the situation and tell him I need a GPS tracking device. Wait for him in the car. Understand?"

"Yes. I understand", Chuck answered, trying hard to keep the mood light. "I just wish we had ordered white wine. It'd be a lot easier to get out of this shirt." Chuck paused for a second. "Actually, now that I think about it, you're sort of the perfect chick to pick up a White Supremacist. Blonde hair, blue eyes, perfect skin, long legs, nice big…"

"Chuck," Sarah interrupted.

"I was about to say nice big smile," Chuck corrected with a smile. "But what you were thinking works just as well. It looks like that dress is going to come in handy after all."

"Chuck, I'm so sorry," Sarah said softly. "I saved this dress for our first date. I wanted it to be for you."

"I know," Chuck said. "One last bit of boyfriend jealousy tonight, and then I promise I'm done. Do me one favor. Try and keep it on all night?"

Sarah really didn't know what to say. There was only one way she knew to keep this man's interest… and that was by allowing him to believe that he was on the fast track to getting very lucky. She would have to keep him interested long enough to allow Casey to get enough backup to whatever location they were going to be at… without giving up his ultimate objective. Not only was that personally unacceptable, once he had the conquest, her value would decrease dramatically and she would become a disposable complication. Thanks to seduction school, she had a bag full of tricks to stall him without making him frustrated enough to take matters into his own hands.

One of the main stalls was to neck with him and, as slowly as possible, allow him to think that he was talking her out of some clothes. Unfortunately, this wasn't the perfect outfit for that strategy. Her current dress didn't have many layers to slowly take off. So the necking wouldn't take long. One tug at her zipper, and she'd basically be naked. That was by design. Except that Chuck was intended to be the recipient. Of course, at some level, Chuck knew how these things went. He had never actually seen it happen, but he surely had listened on her wire numerous times while she was in the process of showing a mark some serious skin. He could probably figure out that in this situation she didn't have any time to prepare, and the odds were fairly high that she'd have to give in a little quicker than usual. At least he asked her to try. That let her off the hook a little, and he knew it. She could promise that. "I'll make it a top priority," Sarah said with as much of a calm smile as she could muster.

Now Sarah had to quickly get herself into mission mode. She had learned years ago to ignore men checking her out. It happened pretty much every where she went. Like most of the men in the restaurant, Sarah could tell that White was occasionally stealing glances at her. Once when she noticed that he was looking her way she flashed him a Sarah smile. She recognized the look on his face as she had dozens of times before. Message received. "Show time," she whispered and stood up.

It was indeed show time. "How dare you?" Sarah yelled. "What kind of girl to you take me for?" She threw her drink in Chuck's face as planned. "Why don't you just get the hell out of here?"

Chuck stormed out of the restaurant as instructed without looking back.

"Thank you, sweetie," Sarah said to herself.

"I'm so going to make this up to you."

x-x-x-x-x


	3. The New and Improved Asset

_I don't own Chuck. Actually, I don't own much of anything._

 _This is not new content. In fact, it is almost ten years old._

 _I didn't know that anything like fanfiction existed. There was already a community of folks dedicated to telling the exact story I was dying to read. It was a match made in heaven. They were having so much fun talking about their stories, and life in general, that I wanted to join. So I decided to write a story, mostly as an excuse to join their conversation._

 _The thing is, I'm not a writer. As a result that first effort was… well, embarrassing. My hand was shaking so badly that I could barely click the link to post the first chapter. But something magical happened. I received my first review… and I was hooked._

 _The community quickly started helping me to grow as a writer. One of the first, LeeCan, sorta took me under his wing. I'm pretty sure that I still have the scars from BrickRoad teaching me grammar. BTW, English sucks. Anyway gradually, I got better. One of the things I learned over the years was to not be in such a hurry to tell the story, to allow it to evolve. So hopefully, I can fix those flaws here._

 _When I first started writing, there were several teenaged girls, just a little younger than my daughter, who were my friends. Call me old fashioned, but I was uncomfortable writing anything about sex knowing they would be reading. Now those girls are grown women. So I'm not nearly as uncomfortable. This will always be comfortably T. But it will be more descriptive._

 _Look, I get that interest in things Chuck has waned. That's as it should be. So, while I'd always love to hear from you, I'm not doing this for hits or reviews. I'm doing this for me. Hopefully you can enjoy it as well._

 **The New and Improved Asset**

x-x-x-x-x

Sarah knew that she wouldn't have to wait long. Once she flashed that smile, the battle was almost always, for all intents and purposes, over. She had barely sat back down before White approached her table. "I'm sorry to interrupt but it looks like you are having some trouble," he said. "Such a beautiful lady should never be alone. Mind if I join you?"

Sarah understood that this was a time for focus. But she couldn't help compare this smooth talking jerk to her Chuck. And the amazing thing was that Chuck felt inferior to these testosterone filled, narcissistic idiots. That's something she would have to help him with. But right now, she had a job to do, so she looked up and smiled. "Please," she answered.

"My name is Rick," White began as he held out his hand. "If you don't mind me saying so, that guy is an idiot."

That he wouldn't release her hand right away was so predictable that Sarah had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. "Thanks," she replied in that soft sexy voice that drove these guys wild. "I'm June." Sarah always used June as her cover name in these situations. It was her favorite month. "This is what I get for going on a blind date set up by my dentist. He obviously thought he was going to get lucky right here in the restaurant. I just can't seem to find the right man."

"Can I buy you a drink?" White asked.

Of course he would buy her a drink. He'd buy her as many drinks as he could talk her into tipping back. "Thank you," Sarah said.

"As a matter of fact, I just used mine to get rid of an idiot."

x-x-x-x-x

As soon as Chuck got outside of the restaurant, he dialed Casey's number.

Casey answered on the second ring. "This had better be good, Bartowski," he growled into the phone. "My favorite TV dinner is getting ready come out of the oven."

Chuck willed the calm into his voice, but his heart was beating a million times a minute. Sarah was in danger. "Casey," he said. "Listen to me. Sarah and I were at a restaurant and I flashed on the leader of a White Supremacy group named Pure Blood. Sarah sent me out to call you. She's inside now trying to get close to the leader. She wants you to bring her a GPS tracker."

At least, that ended the snarky attitude. Casey instantly transformed into agent mode. "Bartowski," he said. "Where exactly are you?"

Chuck took a deep breath. "We're at the new Italian restaurant called Guido's. It's two blocks south of the Buy More. I'm outside in the Nerd Herder."

"Don't move," Casey growled. "I'll be there in twenty minutes."

It was actually only about eighteen minutes before Casey was knocking on the window. Chuck unlocked the door and let him into the passenger's seat.

"Okay," Casey said in a hushed tone. "What exactly is the situation?"

Chuck took another deep breath. "There are four gang members inside including the leader, Rick White," he began. "They are planning a Ricin attack on the Democratic National Convention to protest Barack Obama winning the nomination. Sarah is inside trying to get them to compromise the location of their Ricin capabilities."

Casey nodded. There wasn't a better person to have stumbled onto this lead. This was exactly the type of mission that had made Agent Walker famous in the first place. They just needed to be in position to support her. "Okay," he said. "I'll go in and slip her the tracking device that I brought. I'll be right back. Don't move an inch."

Chuck could only sit there and wait nervously for Casey to return. It seemed like an hour, but really was only a few minutes before Casey was back in the car. "How did it go?" Chuck asked anxiously.

"Great," Casey replied. "I was able to slip her the package. Now it's all up to Walker. She is at a table with the four gang members. It looks like they are getting very comfortable, if you know what I mean."

"What happens if she isn't able to get them to compromise their location?" Chuck asked nervously.

Casey laughed. Chuck should get this. He'd seen it happen enough times over the past year. "Let me ask you a question," he said. "You meet someone who looks like Walker in a bar. She's almost wearing a dress like the one that Walker's almost wearing. She hangs on every word that you say and laughs at all of your jokes. After a few drinks, she's willing to go home with you. What would you do?"

Casey smiled as he saw the look that crossed Chuck's face. "Exactly," he said. "She's the very best at this. That poor bastard doesn't stand a chance."

Chuck seemed to accept that. And they did have a few minutes to kill. So why not have a little fun? "By the way," Casey continued. "What were you and Walker doing in this restaurant anyway?"

Chuck thought about how to answer. He remembered Sarah's warning from last night about Casey finding out. It was far too upscale of a place to claim it was a cover date. So probably best to play dumb. "Nothing," he stammered. "We were just having dinner. I mentioned to her at lunch that I had never been here. She hadn't either. We figured, you know, we gotta eat."

Casey pressed his advantage. "Then why in the world was Walker wearing that dress?" he asked with a noticeable sneer in his voice.

Chuck looked at the floor. Playing dumb was actually harder than it looked. "I'm not sure, Casey," he answered. "She usually doesn't solicit my opinion on her wardrobe choices. You should probably ask her. Maybe she hadn't gotten to the dry cleaners and that was the only thing she had clean."

"Right," Casey grunted. Then he became mercifully silent. He turned his attention to the phone to brief Beckman.

x-x-x-x-x

After about forty very uncomfortable minutes, Casey spotted Sarah and the gang leaving the restaurant. Agent Walker had struck gold again. They were laughing and obviously had consumed more than their share of drinks. "Show time," he said.

"What is it about you spy types and show time?" Chuck asked. "That's what Sarah said. What does that even mean?"

This wasn't the time for any mindless Bartowski babbling. That had to be nipped in the bud. "It means if you don't shut up," Casey growled. "I'm going to rip your lungs out."

Casey got out his night vision binoculars and monitored the group. He just couldn't resist taking a shot at Bartowski's pathetic crush on Walker. The sad look on his face never got old. "Would you look at that," he remarked. "That Rick White dude is looking awfully comfortable for a terrorist. Look at his hand all over Walker's ass."

Casey looked to see Chuck's reaction but Chuck just stared straight ahead. They watched as Sarah and the gang piled into a van that was parked on the opposite side of the road and about five cars away. Once they were all in, the van pulled away.

Chuck turned to Casey. "Aren't we going to follow them?"

"Relax," was Casey's dismissive reply. "Of course we're going to follow them. I'm tracking them right now with the GPS in Sarah's purse. Switch places with me and I'll drive. I don't want you panicking and tipping them off.

As Casey pulled away, he couldn't help but take one last shot. "Keep a lookout for Walker's dress on the side of the road," he said. "If they toss it out the window, we'll stop and pick it up so she'll have something to wear home." He chuckled at Chuck's devastated look.

Nope, it never got old.

x-x-x-x-x

It was child's play to follow the GPS signal without being seen. After a drive of about twenty minutes they pulled up to a house in a quiet, residential neighborhood. The van was parked in the driveway. Sarah and the gang were obviously already inside. Casey parked the herder on the street, a few houses away.

Casey pulled out his gun and turned to Chuck. "I'm going to go scout out the situation," he said. "Depending on how many men, we may need backup. Stay right here. Understood?"

"Understood," was Chuck's single word reply.

That wasn't nearly good enough. "Chuck, I'm not joking around," Casey growled. "This is a very dangerous situation. Do not leave this car under any circumstances. Do you understand?"

Chuck had already had about enough of being treated like a child. "Casey," he said sarcastically. "You've explained your instructions in a very articulate manner. They have been both clear and concise. I understand. I'll stay in the damn car."

Casey took out the dome light so it wouldn't come on as he opened the car door. He quietly went around to the back of the house.

Of course, Chuck had been on enough of these missions over the past year to know that they rarely went exactly as planned. This was no exception. Just as Casey disappeared into the darkness, he noticed two cars pull up in front of the house. Four men emerged from each car.

This was not good. Casey was expecting four men. He and Sarah could handle that. But twelve? He needed to warn them.

But how? Chuck thought about getting out of the car to try and find Casey. That wouldn't work. Sarah had explained the rules very clearly last night. She trusted him. She would never forgive him if he broke their deal on the first day. Then again, what if something bad happened to her? How could he live with that? Then it came to him. Grabbing his cell phone, he sent a text message to Casey's number.

8 more bad guys coming.

x-x-x-x-x

Casey felt his phone vibrate in his pants. _Bartowski, this had better be good._ As he read the message his eyes widened. Twelve men were too many for the two of them to handle. He'd have to get Walker out of there. That would blow the cover, but there was no choice. At least they had discovered the location. Beckman could send a cleanup force to gather any Intel they could. That's probably the best they could do under the circumstances.

Casey silently crept up to a back window and peaked inside. Luckily it had been a warn day and the window was already open. There was a screen but that was no problem. Quickly, Casey was in the house.

Casey could hear Rick White and Sarah talking in the next room. Casey strained to hear the conversation.

"Well, June," White said. "You look amazingly hot in that dress. I do believe it's about time for me to see what you look like with it off."

Sarah grinned. This moron had just made the classic mistake. He obviously wasn't bashful about necking in front of people. His hands being everywhere in the van proved that rather conclusively. If he had kept her in the room with his gang and continued her public groping, she would have been trapped. Twelve men were too many to fight, especially without her gun. There wouldn't even be a good chance to stall long enough for Casey to get in position. Her dress would soon be off, and the other eleven would be drawing cards to see who got the first crack at sloppy seconds.

But White had miscalculated. He wanted his tipsy blonde conquest alone in his bedroom. Now they were finally on her turf. Agent Walker could take this idiot with both hands cuffed behind her back. They were assured privacy. The gang thought that he was back here in the process of getting laid. Even better, she'd be able to tell Chuck that she had kept her promise. "Sorry, Rick," Sarah teased. "Thanks for calling me hot. That was nice. I've been told that I look even more amazing with the dress off. Too bad you're never going to find out. The dress stays on."

White wasn't worried. He wasn't prepared to wait any longer. She was drunk. Maybe if he explained the situation, she'd listen to reason before he had to get physical. "I think that you'd better look around," he said. "You got into a van with four men that you had never seen before. Didn't your mama ever warn you about how dangerous that is? I think we both know what the current facts are. You should know something about me. I hate teases. You're alone with twelve men. One way or another, I'm getting what you promised. The only way you're getting out of here is through me. I'm a reasonable guy. It doesn't have to get rough. I'll give you one more chance to lose the dress on your own before I take matters into my own hands."

Sarah's grin grew as she nodded. "Okay, Rick," she agreed. "Thank you for being reasonable. I do see your point. I agree, we can do this your way." She grabbed his hand with her off hand and twisted it in the wrong direction until she could hear the bones break. His eyes widened in shock as he fell to his knees in pain. "I'm ready for you to take matters into your own hands now," she taunted. "That's what you wanted isn't it? Unfortunately, that may be a problem. It doesn't look like they're working so well." She didn't wait for a response. A roundhouse kick to the side of his head knocked him unconscious.

"Real nice kick, Walker," Casey said as he entered the open door.

Sarah grinned at him. "Thanks," she said. "I'm getting pretty good at it. We can go down to the gym later and I'll teach it to you."

Casey laughed. "No, thanks," he said. "I think that I pulled a groin watching you do it. I'll stick to a more practical weapon." He handed Sarah a gun. "I think it's time to get out of Dodge. Let's go out the window."

"If we leave now they'll get away," Sarah protested. "I say we stay and fight it out."

Casey shook his head. "We're too outmanned to fight," he argued. "There are twelve heavily armed men out there with nothing to lose. Well, eleven, counting out your horny friend here. I say we leave and let Beckman send in the cavalry."

Just then, one of the gang members spotted Rick lying on the floor. "What the hell?" he asked as he raised his weapon. He fell in a heap with one of Casey's bullets between his eyes.

"I thought that you wanted to leave?" Sarah teased. "You have a funny way of saying goodbye."

"Yeah," Casey replied as he and Sarah ducked for cover. "That didn't work out well, did it?"

Five more gang members came running down the hall, firing their guns as they ran. Within a few seconds, all five lay dead.

As Casey paused to reload, Sarah turned to him. "Nice shooting," she teased.

"Well, we all have our skills," Casey replied. "We can go down to the range and I'll teach you."

In spite of the tense situation, Sarah laughed. Sarah was an excellent shot, one of the best. She wasn't as good of a shot as Casey… but who was?

"We still have some work to do," Casey said. "There are still five bad guys here someplace." But when they searched all of the rooms, no one was left. They had all obviously escaped in the confusion during the gunfight.

Casey turned to Sarah in concern. "We need to find Bartowski," he said.

"Relax," Sarah replied calmly. "Chuck is waiting in the car."

"How do you know?"

"You told him to stay in the car, didn't you," Sarah asked confidently. It was just a guess. But it was a pretty good bet.

"Yes," Casey replied. "But you do realize that we're talking about Bartowski? We always tell him to stay in the car. How often has that actually happened?"

Sarah grinned at him. "I've got a feeling that you might be surprised this time," she said.

"Let's go find out."

x-x-x-x-x

Sure enough, when they got to the car, Chuck was inside. He appeared surprisingly calm under the circumstances. "I'm glad to see you made it safely," he said to them. If his eyes were only on Sarah, and they were, that could probably be forgiven. "How'd it go?"

"We killed six and captured one," Casey sighed. "But five escaped. That's going to be an issue."

"No one escaped," Chuck replied.

Casey's tolerance for nonsense from Chuck was never high. "What do you mean?" he demanded. "There were twelve. Sarah captured one and we killed six. Unless my math has gone to hell, that leaves five."

"No one escaped," Chuck insisted.

Sarah stepped between them before things got out of hand. "Chuck, what do you mean?" she asked softly.

"Well," Chuck began. "When I saw the eight men drive up, I knew that was too many for you to fight alone. As soon as I sent the text message to Casey, I called General Beckman. She sent some backup. I briefed the squad on the phone while they were in route. They arrived just as the shooting started. I was listening to them talking to Beckman on the conference call. They saw the five bad guys leaving and were going to grab them but Beckman decided to have them followed to see where they were going. Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll lead us to something important."

Casey's mouth literally fell open. "Well, nice work, Bartowski. I guess. The only thing left to do is get a cleanup team here."

Chuck grinned. Casey would rather eat broken glass than pay him a compliment. That must have really hurt. "They've already been dispatched," he replied. "As a matter of fact, I think that's them pulling up now."

Sure enough the cleanup crew had arrived. After a few minutes of giving them instructions, Casey returned to the car. "Let's get out of here," he said.

"Take me back to pick up my car and we'll meet at my place to debrief."

x-x-x-x-x

The debriefing couldn't have possibly gone any better. General Beckman was ecstatic at the huge win that literally came out of nowhere. "Excellent work," she praised. "Not only did we capture Rick White, we killed six other gang members. The backup team I dispatched tailed the five escaped gang members. They led them to another gang safe house where they captured another ten members. In the basement of the house you were at we found a lab to produce Ricin. They had already stockpiled enough to kill several thousand people and were making more. Not only did you save the lives of thousands of people, you helped us avoid a serious national crisis. Well done!"

In these meetings, Casey was usually the team spokesman. "Thank you, General," he replied.

"It's funny," Beckman continued. "Even though you've both been trained to be solo agents, you're obviously more effective as a team. We're going to have to think about that to see if we should change our thinking. And, Bartowski, way to use your head. Again, well done. You're dismissed."

Casey was the happiest that Chuck had ever seen. "Well, I guess we can call this a night," he said. "Bartowski, will you wait for Walker in the car? I'd like to have a word with her."

As soon as Chuck left the room, Casey turned to Sarah. "What's going on with you and Bartowski?" Casey questioned.

Sarah was very concerned. Casey always had his suspicions. There could be no valid explanation for being in that restaurant dressed like they were. He could really make trouble for them. So taking a page out of Chuck's playbook, she played dumb. "What do you mean?" she asked.

Casey refused to let her off the hook. "Come on, Walker," he snorted. "You and Bartowski didn't just happen to be in that restaurant. You didn't just happen to be wearing that dress. That wasn't a cover date. Bartowski didn't just happen to start behaving like an alter boy. You were on a real date, weren't you? You told Bartowski that if he started behaving, you'd date him for real. Tell me I'm wrong."

What could Sarah possibly say to that? She could deny it until she was blue in the face, but Casey would never buy it anyway. "Assuming, just for the sake of argument, that you're right, how would you feel?" Sarah asked. It wasn't exactly an admission, but it really was.

Casey popped her concern like a bubble. "Walker," he laughed. "If I could get Bartowski to behave like that, I'd consider dating him myself."

Sarah's sigh of relief was noticeable. Casey had just told her that he'd keep their secret. That was huge. "I'll let him know," she laughed. "You never know. I just wouldn't get my hopes up."

As Sarah reached the door, Casey stopped her. "Walker," he called softly. "Be careful. These things between agents and civilians almost always end badly."

Of course he was absolutely right. Sarah knew it as well as he did. They almost always ended badly. But Sarah had no choice but to make it work… and the truth was she didn't want one. "I know," she admitted. "Chuck isn't exactly a civilian. But trust me. I know all of the risks. The thing is… he's worth it. My job is to get him to believe that."

"Goodnight, Walker," Casey said to the now empty room after Sarah closed the door behind her.

"Good luck."

x-x-x-x-x

Chuck was waiting for Sarah when she got to car. She stepped right up and threw her arms around him. "I can't tell you how proud I am of you," she sighed.

"Thanks," Chuck replied as he wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace. "I'm very proud of you too. You single handily just compromised a terrorist group and took it out."

"Not alone," Sarah protested. "I had a lot of help."

As they got in the car, Chuck turned to Sarah. "I think Casey knows about us," he said.

"Why? What did he say?"

"Nothing really," Chuck replied. "He definitely noticed how you were dressed. He also took great pleasure in pointing out every time a terrorist would touch your ass."

"So, you saw that?" Sarah asked sadly.

Chuck laughed. "Well, it was sort of hard not to with Casey giving me a play by play," he said. "It was sort of like listening to a baseball game on the radio. Tell me. Does that happen often?"

Sarah took full note of his teasing tone. So she matched it. "I really wish that I could tell you no," she said. "The truth is it happens a lot. Evil men seem attracted to my butt. It's getting to the point where, when we find fingerprints at a scene, we don't bother the FBI. We just match them against my butt."

"Wow," Chuck teased. "I always knew your butt was beautiful. Now I find that it's practical as well."

"You're right about Casey," Sarah said. "He told me that if he could get you to behave like you did tonight, he would date you."

Chuck looked at her in horror. "Seriously," he protested. "Why would you tell me something like that? That is just wrong."

Sarah laughed for a long moment before turning serious. "So," she said. "About seeing me with White… you're not jealous? Chuck, it's okay. You just heard about your girlfriend picking up a strange man in a bar and going home with him. This is the time when you're allowed to be jealous. Let's get it on the table and deal with it." One of the things they would have to deal with was a better label. Girlfriend was much too tame. Fiancé was probably more technically accurate. But that was still pretty scary.

"Actually, I'm not jealous," was Chuck's reply. "Don't get me wrong. Before yesterday, I would have gone crazy. But you really helped me last night. Knowing that we're together makes it a lot easier for me. I was thinking about it while I was waiting in the car. I decided that being jealous was selfish. I was worried about myself when I should have been worried about you. That's what being in love means. You're the one who has to put up with coming on to the scum of the earth and letting them paw all over you. I should be supporting you. I always should have. I want you to know that I'm really sorry about that. The last thing you should have to deal with is worrying about me being jealous while you're trying to do a nasty job."

Sarah was floored. "Wow," she said. "That is, without a doubt, the nicest thing that anyone has ever said to me." After a few seconds, she added, "I want you to know that I love you."

"And I think that's the nicest thing that anyone has ever said to me," Chuck said. "I love you too. I didn't expect to hear that from you very often. I know that's hard for you. I get it."

Sarah's smile lit up the dark car. "It shouldn't be hard," she said. "That's something I need to work on. You deserve it. You're right. Being together makes it a lot easier… for me too. Chuck, you're really trying hard to make this work. I appreciate that. You need to know that I'll work just as hard. There are lots of things you're getting cheated out of. I feel bad about that. But mostly, it's true. I do love you."

They were silent for the rest of the ride, just enjoying the moment without speaking. As they walked hand in hand to Sarah's door, Chuck finally broke the silence. "Sarah, I hate that our first date ended like this," he said. "It's not that late. Do you want to go get a drink someplace?"

Sarah furrowed her brow. "Chuck," she sighed. "I'm sorry but it's been a really long day. I just want to go to bed. Would you be terribly disappointed if we waited for another night to have that drink?"

Chuck was trying hard to hide his disappointment but he wasn't being very successful.

"Sure," he said. "We can do it another night. I'm sure you're really tired." He leaned in and gave Sarah a quick kiss. "Well, goodnight."

As he turned to leave he felt Sarah's hand grab his wrist. One thing about Sarah, if she had a hold of your wrist and didn't want you to leave, the only way you were leaving was without that arm. "Just where do you think you're going?" she asked with a grin.

Chuck looked at her. "I thought you said you just wanted to go to… Oh."

"Come on, Chuck," Sarah laughed as she opened the door. "I thought you were supposed to be the genius of the team? Who said anything about being tired? I sure hope you're not planning on getting much sleep tonight."

"Sorry," Chuck replied as they entered the room. "I'm not that experienced with beautiful women inviting me to bed… or any women when it comes right down to it. In my experience, when a woman tells me she wants to go to bed, she means for me to leave. And, no, I think I can stay up all night if needed."

Sarah laughed. He probably didn't get the double entendre. She was going to do her best to get him to stay up all night. "That's going to be a problem," she said. "Maybe I need to call Carina and have her teach me to be less subtle."

"You're getting ready to go to bed with a man on the first date," Chuck teased. "Maybe there's a little more Carina in you than you're letting on."

That got them both laughing… until Sarah stepped up and pressed her lips to his. That stopped any laughing. It quickly escalated until their tongues were dancing and this afternoon was left standing in the dust. Chuck ramped up the arousal several notches when she grabbed his hand and guided it to her breast over her dress. If he hadn't noticed her arousal earlier in the Orange Orange, he couldn't possibly miss it now. She was about to poke through the fabric. Sarah knew all along that this would be great, but she wasn't prepared for this feeling. She found herself in uncharted territory. All she could do was moan her approval as Chuck finally got the hint and she felt his hand slide into the top of her dress. They stayed firmly necking at second base until Sarah couldn't wait any longer. Fortunately, her bed was only a couple of steps away.

Sarah had planned a long time ago how her first seduction of Chuck would happen. It was now time to execute. "Just one more thing," she said as she finally broke the kiss and took a step back. "I promised you I would try to keep this dress on all night. I kept that promise best I could. But now I'm tired of trying." Indeed, Sarah slowly tugged at the zipper. Gravity quickly did its job and the dress was pooled at her feet, leaving her in stockings, heels, and mostly invisible panties. "I've been waiting for this moment for an entire year. I've imagined it most every night. Just to be clear, my expectations of you in this area are off the charts. Any questions?"

Chuck found that he couldn't speak. It was like one of those dreams Casey constantly teased him about. All he could do was shake his head as he watched the most beautiful woman in the whole world reach down and slowly slide the panties down her long legs. Once she had stepped out of them, she moved her arms to her side and stood there posing for his inspection. Words weren't her strength. Hopefully he understood the gesture she was making. Their relationship had strict rules… unfair rules that no reasonable man should be forced to live with. But from this moment forward, she would make sure she would give him every single thing that she possibly could. This view, in the fully lit room, was now one of several of his fundamental rights. She was visibly trembling with desire, making zero effort to hide her perfect body from his admiring gaze. He turned a little red. But to his credit, he did finally take in the view from head to toe, and back again. If the bulge in his slacks was any indication… and it surely was, he was just as aroused as she was.

"Speaking isn't mandatory," she teased. "Not to be critical, but now's not the time for talking anyway. I expect a lot more action from you."

"I trust that in thirty seconds, I'm not the only one naked."

x-x-x-x-x


	4. Girl Talk

_I don't own Chuck. Actually, I don't own much of anything._

 _This is not new content. In fact, it is almost ten years old._

 _Look, I get that interest in things Chuck has waned. That's as it should be. So, while I'd always love to hear from you, I'm not doing this for hits or reviews. I'm doing this for me. Hopefully you can enjoy it as well._

 **Girl Talk**

x-x-x-x-x

What a dream. It was one of those dreams where you didn't want to wake up, one where you tried to go back to sleep hoping to continue it. Finally, Chuck opened his eyes… and full memory returned. He was looking into the baby blues of the most beautiful woman in the world. She had her face cupped in her hand and resting on her elbow… just watching him. The light coming through the window made her hair glow and just contributed to the angelic vision. When she noticed that his eyes were open, Sarah's contented smile turned into a grin.

The first thing that Chuck did was to take his finger and gently touch her nose. "I just wanted to make sure that you were real," he explained, responding to her questioning look. "That was some night."

"Uh huh."

"How long have you been watching me sleep?" Chuck asked.

Sarah considered the question. She didn't want to deceive him. But she also knew that if she told him the truth, that she had been watching him for hours, it would freak him out. So she settled for something ambiguous. "A while," she answered.

"Why?"

Again, Sarah considered the question. But this time, it was her that the truth was freaking out. Her life had been turned upside down last night… in an unimaginably wonderful way. She had known for months that she could no longer deny being in love with him. She had internally come to terms with that… mostly anyway. But there was nothing in her past that could have prepared her for last night. It wasn't just the sex. In fact, it wasn't really sex.

Sex was okay. Sometimes you got in a mood where it was more than okay. She had been looking forward to sex with Chuck like forever. But this was the first time that Sarah had ever made love. The difference was indescribable. And Chuck? Chuck was absolutely perfect. He was gentle and loving and… perfect. He took control, calmed her down, brought her to that wonderful edge for what seemed like hours… and changed her life. Thinking about the future was an uncomfortable thing for Sarah. It always had been. Spies didn't have futures. They didn't live long enough. But she knew. There was no way to even think about going back to the way things were yesterday. Thinking in 'the rest of her life' terms was still scary. All she knew was that she would be standing by his side, no matter what happened.

And that wonderful change brought its own set of problems. She had to keep him alive. It was suddenly even more of an obsession that it had been yesterday. That meant that, now more than ever, she had to keep him from making foolish decisions. She also had to keep from getting caught. If Beckman had even a whiff of the depths of her devotion to him, she'd ship her as far away from Burbank as possible without the assistance of NASA. That meant performing their missions with the same skill as before with the stupid required seduction assignments. Spy partner and wife were roles that didn't perfectly align. Where were the lines? And would it even matter? The missions were the thing that made them valuable. Depending on the whims of the brass, even that might not be enough. What happened if they decided Chuck should be underground? Maybe she should start making plans to run with him. Thinking about committing treason wasn't remotely possible yesterday. Agent Walker didn't commit treason. She had been Graham's enforcer. She hunted down and shot people who committed treason. But there was one undeniable truth. Nobody was taking him away from her… ever.

How much of this to tell Chuck? He'd want to drive to Vegas today and get married. Maybe soon. Thinking in those terms was something she'd have to grow into. Not only that, they would have to be very careful in how much time they could spend together. They would have to keep up the appearance of their cover life. That meant they would only be able to spend the night together a couple of times a week. That would be hard on Chuck. But who were we kidding? It would be doubly hard on her. Hopefully, she could get him to wait and have those planning type talks in a calmer time. So she smiled at him. "I like watching you sleep," she said. "I hope that's not creepy for you."

Chuck grinned. "Not a problem," he teased. "In your current position, I like watching you breathe. I hope that's not creepy for you."

Her current position meant that her bare breasts were dangling provocatively. Chuck was clearly teasing her. He was still pretty uncomfortable with the idea of gawking at her. It was very cute. Sarah wasn't good with words. She probably never would be. But this was the perfect time to tell him something important… her way. So she rose up a little, moved her arms out of the way, and made a show out of giving him the full view. Hopefully over time he'd learn that she was more than willing to get naked for him, in some exotic performance, whenever it was practical. It was one of his rights… something she would enjoy doing for him. For now, she'd have to take the lead when it was time to perform. But someday, hopefully he would get over being bashful and ask on his own. That would be a huge turn on. "It's not creepy at all," she said. "Not even a little bit. I love it when you look at me."

Chuck pulled her down so that her chest was resting on his and kissed her. "You just started something," he said. "I sure hope that you're prepared to finish it."

Sarah wasn't expecting anything like that this morning, not after the three separate love-making sessions last night, each longer and more exciting than the previous one. That he was ready for more so soon was an impressive and wonderfully exciting surprise. It had her instantly on fire.

Chuck really didn't give her a chance to answer his rhetorical question. "If your answer is what I feel poking into my chest," he teased. "I'd call that a big yes."

And there it was, just another reminder of why she was willing to ditch the only life she had ever known and blindly follow this man. She was as on fire as she had even been in her life, including last night, and yet she was laughing helplessly. Sarah was well beyond the ability for rational thought, but she instinctively knew that they had just crossed another couple threshold. Chuck taking the lead was a new and wonderful experience. It had her white hot arousal amped up to an almost painful level. All she could do was watch helplessly as he pulled her tight and rolled them over.

x-x-x-x-x

It had been a simply glorious week. For once, they had caught a break. Not only was there a lull in the missions, Beckman decided that they should use this lull to fully sell their cover. Sarah could barely keep a straight face in the briefing when Beckman ordered Chuck to start spending the night with Sarah whenever possible. Always the disciplinarian, she also ordered them to ramp up the PDA in public and convince all of his associates that they had moved their relationship to the next level. She thought that she was twisting the knife. Little did the sadistic bitch know.

Of course, they still had their shifts at work during the day. Sarah had to make a quick trip to Victoria's Secret to buy some thicker bras so that the teenage boys wouldn't see her constant arousal. They were starting to become more annoying than cute. But after work, they no longer had anything to hide. They were ordered to become more physical. They made sure to spend time with Ellie and Morgan. Sarah even made sure that Ellie 'caught' them on her couch necking while half dressed. That was a little fun.

The best part wasn't even the love-making. They already were in mid-season form there. It was that they were growing closer and closer as a couple. Like everything, Chuck was perfect. He knew exactly how to get her to open up more without pushing.

They were in their newly found favorite position, cuddled together on Sarah's love seat watching TV. Actually, it was their second favorite position, but even Sarah had come to realize that you could make love only so many times in a day. It really didn't matter what was on since they were only half watching anyway.

The more important thing was just learning to enjoy the wonderful feeling of being a couple. Sarah was leaning on Chuck's shoulder and had her head resting on the crook of his neck. Chuck's arm was around Sarah's shoulder and resting on her oft arm. Occasionally he would softly rub her upper arm. Except for the occasional contented sigh, they were silent. Neither had moved for some time, reluctant to break the warm glow that filled the room. Finally Chuck spoke.

"Sarah," Chuck asked softly. "Can I ask you a question?"

"I guess, that depends on the question," Sarah teased. Chuck knew the areas where she was still uncomfortable. He had been very sweet about not going there.

"Who do you talk to?" Chuck asked.

That was an odd question. She could tell by his tone that he was being serious. "What do you mean?" Sarah asked. She moved her head the smallest bit possible to look into Chuck's eyes.

"Who do you have to confide in?" Chuck continued. "Who do you talk to about things like clothes and men and that sort of girlfriend stuff? I mean, I have Morgan. Ellie has her female doctor friends. Awesome has his frat buddies. Who do you have?"

"Well, I have you," Sarah answered with a smile. It was true. She had already told him things that she couldn't imagine telling anyone. He even knew about the mission inspired wet t-shirt victory in Cleveland that time. It was perhaps the most embarrassing story she had. It had been almost ten years and this was the first time she had been able to laugh about it.

"I know that," Chuck replied as he squeezed her a little tighter. "But that's not what I'm talking about. You know that you can talk to me about anything and I'll be here for you. But I'm sure that there are some things you'd be more comfortable talking to another girl."

Sarah's heart skipped a beat as she recognized his protective instincts. He was looking out for her. How sweet was that? "Like what for instance?" she asked.

"Okay, here's an example," Chuck started. "Me… us. That's a big thing in your life, isn't it? I mean it doesn't happen very often, right?"

Chuck wasn't fishing for an 'I love you.' He wasn't. He was being sweet. The thing is, he deserved to hear it. "You are right," Sarah answered. "This is the first time I've ever been in love. It's also going to be the last time."

Chuck was really concentrating on his point and had clearly missed the fact that she had just inferred a lifetime commitment to him. "Okay," he continued. "You have this huge, exciting change in your life. Who have you told? I mean, I'm not expecting a name. I know you probably can't tell me that. I'm just hoping you have someone to talk to."

"You're right again," Sarah replied with a smile. "There is someone I've told about us, about being in love, and how wonderful it is. The CIA knows that agents need to be able to talk to someone or they would eventually go crazy. They set up a secure phone bridge so that we can sometimes talk casually when a mission allows. I'll tell you the name because you already know her. I usually get to talk to Carina a couple of times a week for a few minutes. She knows about you. About us."

"Carina?" Chuck asked in shock. "DEA Carina? Carina Miller is your best friend? The one you share your secrets with? I'm sorry, Sarah, but Carina doesn't seem like a very good best friend to me. She fooled us into trusting her and took off with that diamond leaving us to hold the bag. Do you know that she tried to seduce me the last time she was here? She told me she enjoyed taking things that Sarah wanted."

Sarah grinned at his surprise. He didn't understand spies and how they thought. If he was going to be married to one, that had to change. Maybe this was a good time for his first lesson. "Carina wasn't always with the DEA," she said. "We went to the academy together and were partners on a team with two other girls for a couple of years. She has her quirks. I'll not try to deny that. Just because she has quirks doesn't make her any less of a friend. Don't get me started on Morgan's quirks."

"Point well taken," Chuck admitted as he held out his palm in a peace gesture. "Morgan thinks you're the most beautiful woman in the world. He's actually right about that. But he would never try and seduce you. Even if you bumped your head somehow and he wouldn't get laughed at."

"Here is something that you don't understand," Sarah insisted. "Spies are different. We're trained to think about things differently. We're taught that sex is an offensive weapon. I'm not eager to rub your face in this, but if you want to spend the rest of your life with a spy, you'd better understand where she's coming from. I get that you don't want to believe this, but, Chuck, you need to open your mind and hear me. Carina and I are not all that different. One key difference is that she's willing to screw on assignments… actually she's also willing to screw when not on assignments, far too willing. Honestly I'm unusual for a spy. Most of them are almost eager to crawl between the sheets with some creepy mark that they just met. They make it a game and trade stories of their exploits… the more disgusting the better. That's a line I've danced up to, but never crossed. If Morgan tried to seduce me, he'd be betraying you. I agree that he would never do that. Carina wasn't trying to betray me. She was simply using her main weapon to try and find out about you."

Chuck shook his head. "I don't believe that you're like her," he protested. "I get the spy training and all. There's still a difference. You're a good person inside."

"So is she," Sarah replied. "Once you honestly get to know her, I'm sure that you'll eventually come to love her. I'd appreciate you giving her an honest chance… for me."

"You know that I would do anything for you."

Sarah grinned at him. "I do know," she said. "Be honest with me. Why didn't you sleep with her when she offered? You were a free agent. I would have had no right to complain. She's certainly not ugly. She would have made sure that you had a very, very wild time… something to rub in my face. I have it on very, very good authority that she hardly ever gets turned down.

Chuck didn't bat an eye. "I was in love with someone else at the time," he said. "And even though it probably wasn't going to work out, I didn't want to do anything to betray her. I think it turned out to be a good decision."

That got them both laughing. "Me too," Sarah said.

"By the way," Chuck said. "I heard you both times when you said that we were going to spend the rest of our lives together. Thank you for that. I know that kind of thing is hard for you, but it really helps me."

"I'm working on it," Sarah said. "I get that you're still trying to figure this thing out. The thing is, you shouldn't worry about it. If I could just tell you what I'm feeling, you wouldn't worry. I can't promise that I'm always going to want to go as fast as you do. This is still complicated. But I think we both agree on where we're headed."

"I'm willing to take it one day at a time," Chuck said. "I'm just glad you have somebody, even if it's her. Being a spy is such a lonely business. I get worried about you. I didn't want to think that you didn't have anyone to talk to. I don't want you to betray any confidences. If you don't want to talk about it, I understand. But I'm curious. What did she say when you told her?"

That got Sarah grinning again. "She yelled at me," she said. "A lot. She told me that I was being unprofessional and risking my career. She also told me that I was going to get hurt again. She asked me how this was different from Bryce."

If she didn't have it before, that got Chuck's full attention. Sarah's relationship with Bryce was still one of those mysteries that gnawed at him. "And what did you tell her?"

She knew full well that this was a sensitive area for him. "I told her that I was sure," Sarah replied with a twinkle in her eyes. "I told her that there was no comparison between you and Bryce. You're the sweetest guy in the world. She must have bought it because she told me that she was very happy for us. Then we talked about some stuff that I don't think I will share." Carina talked about the details of sex acts the way normal people would talk about their shopping list. That was something that Chuck probably wasn't ready for.

"Do you think I could talk to Carina sometime?" Chuck asked. "Does she know about the Intersect?"

"No," Sarah replied. "Of course not. We don't about classified things. She knows that you're very valuable. She knows that I'm assigned as your handler. But she doesn't know any specifics about you or the mission. Why would you want to talk to her? What would you talk about?"

Chuck hesitated. "Honestly, I'm not specifically sure," he admitted. "You just said that you want me to give her a chance. I want to talk to someone who really knows you… knows what makes you tick. Please don't take this the wrong way, but there are so many things you can't tell me about. Carina can talk to me openly without worrying about telling me something classified. She doesn't know the classified stuff. It would let me feel closer to you. Maybe let me understand what you're going through a little better. Maybe even let me take care of you a little better. Hopefully she can give me some hints to keep from pissing you off. Would that be okay?"

That got Sarah laughing again. "Okay, Mr. Sweetest-Guy-In-the-World. How could I say no to that? It happens that Carina is coming to town tomorrow to introduce me to her new partner. How about we all meet for dinner at Guido's? We never did get to actually eat there. You can schedule Carina for a little one on one time. You know, it's ironic. Right after she yelled at me for being unprofessional, she told me she had a thing for her new partner. Actually 'thing' is my term. I think she said hots." Sarah was being a little coy. Carina had told her, in more graphic detail then she really wanted to know, about this new guy's prowess in bed.

"As long as you don't throw a drink in my face this time," Chuck replied. "Thanks for understanding."

"Great," Sarah. "Now it's time to get back to snuggling."

x-x-x-x-x

Chuck and Sarah arrived at Guido's about fifteen minutes before the scheduled meeting time and got a table for four. While they waited for Carina and her new partner to arrive, Chuck looked around the restaurant. It was actually a pretty nice place when there wasn't wine being thrown in your face. Chuck spotted Carina's face through the window as they arrived. There was a tall, dark haired man who was clearly her new partner.

As the man turned towards the table, Chuck flashed. Fields of Poppy flowers, a ship full of explosives, building schematic plans for a nuclear power plant, and a mushroom cloud.

Sarah's look of disbelief would have been funny in another setting. "You've got to be kidding," she said in exasperation. "Every time we come in here? What did you see?"

"Sarah," Chuck whispered. "We have a big problem. Carina's new partner's name is Jim Smith."

"He is a Fulcrum agent."

x-x-x-x-x


	5. Quick Thinking

_I don't own Chuck. Actually, I don't own much of anything._

 _This is not new content. In fact, it is almost ten years old._

 _Look, I get that interest in things Chuck has waned. That's as it should be. So, while I'd always love to hear from you, I'm not doing this for hits or reviews. I'm doing this for me. Hopefully you can enjoy it as well._

 **Quick Thinking**

x-x-x-x-x

As soon as Sarah heard the word 'Fulcrum' she instantly transformed into agent mode and began searching the room for immediate threats. When she was satisfied that the room was safe, she turned to Chuck. "Does he know about you?"

Chuck shook his head. "I don't think so," he said. "From what I saw, I think he is using his DEA position to import heroin from Afghanistan. They are plotting to use the profits to sabotage a nuclear power plant. Do you think that Carina knows?"

Sarah's worried expression said everything. Fulcrum finding out that Chuck was the human Intersect would be fatal. At best, the brass would immediately order him underground. "I don't know," she said. "I don't think so. I trust Carina. But in our current situation, we have to be prepared for anything. It would draw too much attention for us to leave now. Let's try and get through dinner as calmly and quickly as we can. We'll set up your meeting with Carina as planned. While you're talking to Carina, I'll try and get close to our new friend here. Maybe I can get him to reveal what he's up to. Chuck, you have to sell that nothing is wrong. If you see me pull out my gun, hit the floor and stay there until I tell you it's okay. We'll contact Casey as soon as we're done here tonight."

At that moment, Carina noticed Chuck and Sarah. She waived and came running over. "Blondie," she said with a grin. "It's been too long." When Carina turned to Chuck, her grin turned predatory. "Always nice to see you again, Chuck," she said. "Or should I call you Stud like Blondie here does?"

Carina was obviously trying to embarrass her. She'd have plenty of ammunition. Sarah had to admit, she had gone into some uncharacteristic level of detail about Chuck's prowess in bed. It was a language that Carina would understand… besides, she couldn't resist telling somebody how wonderful her life had become. If Sarah was tense, and she definitely was, you couldn't see it on her face. In fact, she laughed as she turned to Chuck. "I don't call you Stud," she protested. "That's her term."

Carina was still looking at Chuck. "She may not call you Stud to your face," she insisted. "But she sure described one… in more detail than I've ever heard from her. What is this thing that you can do with your tongue? I'm impressed… and I don't impress easily."

Sarah was still laughing. "Will you quit trying to embarrass my… boyfriend?" She paused awkwardly deciding how should she describe him? Asset was probably the proper term in this setting. But that might hurt Chuck's feelings. And with her new partner around, it might get him asking questions. Boyfriend sounded lame. Chuck hadn't been just her boyfriend since that fateful night when her life changed forever. But fiancé would raise more issues. Boyfriend was probably best for now.

Carina ended any hope of keeping the dual nature of their relationship secret. "Boyfriend?" she asked sarcastically, still addressing Chuck. "Agent Walker fucking her asset? If I lived to be a hundred, I never thought I'd see that. If I hadn't heard it from her own lips, I wouldn't have believed it. Actually, Agent Walker fucking anybody is a huge surprise. I don't think you realize how proud you should be. There's a line of men from here to Langley who have taken their best shot at getting inside of her panties. She shooed them all away without a second glance. Until Larkin went around the country bragging to anyone who would pretend to listen that he had taken her mission virginity, people were starting to question her preferences. I wish I could tell someone. They wouldn't believe me."

Sarah was now officially annoyed. She expected to be teased. She had warned Chuck that it was going to happen. The mind blowing thing with the tongue had been for her ears only. Bringing up Bryce was a low blow. The virginity thing had been a running joke for years. Of course Bryce hadn't been her first. Carina always teased her about being a mission virgin. That part was true. Bryce wasn't really a mission. Now that was something she'd have to explain to Chuck. "It sounds like you've already told someone," she said angrily with a glance at the new partner, standing awkwardly by the door.

Carina was still enjoying her sport. "Relax," she said. "He doesn't know any details. He thinks you're fucking your asset. It happens. Maybe not to Sarah Walker, but it happens." She waived him over.

"Chuck, Sarah, I'd like you to meet my new partner, Agent Jim Smith."

Chuck and Jim shook hands with the obligatory reciprocal, "Nice to meet you." The rest of the meal was a blur to Chuck. He was much too occupied trying to stay calm to give much thought to the food or conversation. Fortunately, with Carina at the table, there was little need for Chuck to carry any conversation. Chuck thankfully listened to Sarah and Carina chitchat… mostly Carina.

Finally, Carina turned her attention back to Chuck, again with the predatory grin. "Well, Chuckie boy," she said. "Sarah tells me you want to have a chat with me. What do you want to talk about?"

Chuck probably should have been better prepared for that question. It was surely going to come up. "I'm not really sure," he admitted. "I'm guess I'm hoping that you can give me some hints on what makes my girl here tick," he said with a nod towards Sarah. "She's the strong silent type. You know her better than anyone. Maybe you can give me some pointers on how to stay on her good side."

Carina was clearly in a good mood. "There's no other side to be on and survive," she teased. "From what I hear, every side you've been on so far has been very, very good. If you want to stay on her good side, double down on the thing with the tongue. It's making a very, very good impression… if you know what I mean. It's all she talks about."

Sarah had finally had about enough of Carina's gloating. Poor Chuck was turning red. "Carina," she warned.

Carina had heard that tone from her about a million times. It was to be ignored at your great peril. So she calmed her voice. "Why don't you come over to our hotel room tomorrow about 7:00?" she suggested. "We can have that chat."

Carina wasn't the only one who could take a cheap shot. "Room?" Sarah asked. "As in singular?"

There was one thing about Carina… she could dish it out. But she could also take it. "Always trying to save the taxpayer's money," she replied with a grin.

And actually, this was a good thing. It gave Sarah her opening without sounding forward. "What's Jim going to do while you're talking?" she asked. "I have an idea. How about I pick Jim up and show him the sights while the two of you chat? How about it, Jim? Want to see the sights?"

Jim obviously didn't know Carina very well. "If the sights are better than this then I definitely have to see them," he said.

Sarah wished that he wouldn't have started flirting with her so overtly. In a way, it was a good thing. It would make tomorrow a lot easier. But Chuck was sitting right there watching. Carina's face also lost most of its mischievous grin. She had a very casual attitude about men. She traded them like baseball cards. But she was also very competitive. If she thought that someone was trying to steal one from her… even Sarah… look out.

"I guess we'll call it a night until tomorrow then," Carina said.

Carina and Jim said their goodbyes and left the restaurant. Chuck waited until they were out of sight. "From the way he was trying to look down your dress all night, I think I can guess what sights he's hoping to see," he teased.

Sarah breathed a noticeable sigh of relief. That he was teasing her about someone so overtly flirting with her while he was sitting right there was a very good sign. "I guess you could say that he's not exactly a one women man, couldn't you?" Sarah sighed.

Chuck grinned. "I can't really blame him," he continued teasing. "Now that I've seen the sights, I have to admit, they are spectacular. Do we have some time before we have to go to Casey's? Now that I know how to get on your good side, maybe we can go to your place and I can… um… execute."

That got them both laughing. "Getting a little cocky, are we?" Sarah questioned.

Chuck furrowed his brow in faux thought. "Um, I thought she said my tongue? I could do that as well. I don't think that it's little."

That got Sarah laughing even harder. "You're really asking for it," she was finally able to get out. "Unfortunately, no, we don't have time. I'm most definitely going to take a raincheck and cash it in later tonight. Just to clear up any confusion in your mind, I'll most definitely be expecting both."

x-x-x-x-x

Sarah called Casey from the car and by the time they arrived at his place he had already started the videoconference with Washington.

"Jim Smith has had a rather unspectacular career in the DEA," Beckman said. "His most notable mission was Operation Poppy in 2005. That operation was a sting to intercept a shipload of heroin from Afghanistan. Unfortunately, when the ship was raided at the port in Los Angeles, it was empty. To this day, we're not sure where the heroin went. It had a street value of well over a hundred million dollars. If Smith is really part of Fulcrum, it's possible that he had a hand in diverting the drugs for them to sell and use the profits to finance their other activities. We don't know about Carina Miller's loyalties at this point. Is that correct?"

"Yes, General," Sarah replied. "I know her pretty well and I'd be stunned and very disappointed if she was part of Fulcrum. But I guess it would be prudent to fear the worst."

"I agree," Beckman said. "I understand that you and Mr. Bartowski have arranged separate meetings with Agents Miller and Smith to try and ascertain their intentions. Agent Walker, I understand why Smith agreed to meet with you, considering your… umm… assets. But why in the world would Miller agree to meet with Bartowski?"

It was a good question, one Sarah didn't have an answer for. Fortunately, Casey stepped in for the save. "She has a crush on him, General," he said. "She attempted to start a relationship with him during our mission last year."

"Really?" Beckman asked in surprise. "I find that a little hard to believe but I guess that there's no accounting for taste. That was quick thinking. I'm a little uncomfortable with the asset being alone with someone who we fear might be Fulcrum. But I guess we have little choice. Agent Casey, you will monitor Agents Walker and Smith. We know he's Fulcrum so we'll treat him as the higher priority. Mr. Bartowski, be very careful. You're going to be on your own with Carina Miller. We hope she's loyal but we can't be totally sure. I don't need to remind you that she is a trained agent who knows a hundred different ways to kill you. Well, you have your orders. Good luck."

Sarah was seething at Beckman's insulting skepticism that someone could possibly be attracted to Chuck. But she was even more relieved. As soon as the screen went blank, she turned to Casey. "Carina has a crush on Chuck?" she asked laughing.

"What was I supposed to say?" Casey questioned. "Chuck asked to talk to her alone so he could get some pointers on how to keep a girlfriend?"

Chuck stepped in before anything got out of hand. "How about, Chuck was the only one who wouldn't end up handcuffed to her bed?" he asked.

Sarah looked at Casey, fully expecting him to explode. Instead all three burst out laughing. "If Chuck ends up handcuffed to her bed, we've all got big problems," Casey said.

Sarah looked at Chuck.

"Some of us more than others."

x-x-x-x-x

Chuck waited until they were back to the safety of Sarah's room. "Do you really think that Carina might be Fulcrum?" he asked.

Sarah's smile was calm and confident. "I really don't," she answered. "In fact, I would bet my life on it. The thing is, I wouldn't bet your life on it. So just to be on the safe side, be very careful. It's fine to talk to her about the things that you want to know about me but if she asks any questions about our mission, abort. Casey will be listening and get you the hell out of there."

Chuck looked at her with a grin. "It's going to be very hard concentrating on what Carina is saying," he teased. "I'm going to be too worried about you and Jim Smith."

Sarah couldn't keep the destressed look from her face. "Let's talk about that," she said.

"You misunderstood me," Chuck insisted. "I'm not jealous. I'm sorry if I'm making you question that. I get this is Fulcrum. We'll never be able to have a normal life until they're defeated. You're willing to do whatever it takes to make that happen. So am I. In fact, I don't thank you enough for that. This isn't about me being jealous. I can deal with you getting felt up a little by some creep who you're itching to shoot in the head. Just for the record, I am more than a little concerned for your safety. This is a trained agent who is a member of Fulcrum. He is dangerous."

"Yup," Sarah agreed. "I appreciate your support." Actually, it was more than that. She had never felt closer to him than at this moment. "Let's put this on the table. I promised you that I would never try and deceive you. He is going to be all over me. Agents are aggressive anyway… especially after I encourage him. We're always going to be in a public place. That will crimp his style a little. Casey is going to have my back. Don't worry about me. In case you haven't noticed, I'm kinda a badass. I can take care of myself."

"Let's you and I make a deal," Chuck suggested. "You do what you have to do without worrying about me. After it's over, we tell each other every detail of what happened. Tomorrow will be like a double date. We'll make it a joke, laughing at them together. Then someday, as soon as our circumstance allows, we get out of this life and spend the rest of our days as a normal couple. Deal?"

Sarah felt the tears and blinked them away. She had been wrong earlier. Now she never felt closer to him. Maybe he wasn't on one knee with a ring… but that was definitely a proposal. What else could you call it? But he was also being sensitive to her fear of commitment at the same time. How sweet was that? "Deal," was all she could say.

"Just to be clear," Chuck teased. "With normal couples, it's usually unacceptable to get felt up by another man."

There it was. Today's reminder of how wonderful her life had become. He could always make her laugh. "I've heard that," she was finally able to get out.

Finally Sarah was able to stop laughing. Now it was her smile that turned a bit predatory. "We have something of a dilemma," she said as she began to unbutton her blouse. "I was about to offer you a sexy lap dance as tonight's reward for your support. But I just remembered that I'm owed a couple of rainchecks from dinner. What should we do about that?"

Chuck stepped up and kissed her. "I think that's fairly obvious," he said.

"We should do both."

x-x-x-x-x


	6. Double Date

_I don't own Chuck. Actually, I don't own much of anything._

 _This is not new content. In fact, it is almost ten years old. Some changes in the rewrite. Sarah was far too emotional. She's not going to apologize for using seduction tactics. Chuck needs to support her. That was their deal. There will maybe be a little more description of things that were implied in the original._

 _Look, I get that interest in things Chuck has waned. That's as it should be. So, while I'd always love to hear from you, I'm not doing this for hits or reviews. I'm doing this for me. Hopefully you can enjoy it as well._

 **Double Date**

x-x-x-x-x

Chuck, Sarah, and Casey were all in Casey's apartment preparing for the night's mission. Casey, as usual, was going over the mission details. He clearly took some comfort in telling them what they already knew. "Bartowski, Walker," he said. "You both have listening bugs and GPS trackers on you. I'll be monitoring your conversations. We can't risk earpieces since they are both agents. We wouldn't want them to notice and get tipped off. Walker, you're going to try and get Jim Smith down to the hotel bar to see if you can get him to give up anything. Chuck, you're going to stay in the room and talk with Carina. I'll be in the car. Hopefully neither of you will leave the hotel. If that happens, I'll stay with Walker. Walker, give Chuck about an hour and then bring back Smith. After you're done, we'll all come back here and debrief. After that, we'll report in. Any questions?"

"Any questions?" Sarah teased. "What's the capital of Oregon?"

Chuck normally wouldn't have bothered Casey when he was in mission mode. That usually didn't go well. But hearing Sarah so plainly make fun of him, he just couldn't help himself. "I just hope that Sarah can get Smith to give up something before she has to… umm… debrief. If you catch my meaning," he said.

Sarah's grin was on full display. "I'm not wearing briefs," she teased. "My panties are plain cotton, not really suitable for any de-panty action in a public place. I think you saw me put them on. Besides, I've seen Carina in action. I doubt that she is even wearing panties at all. Don't underestimate her. She may know a hundred ways to kill you, but she knows a thousand ways to get you naked. If you're going to worry about anybody tonight, worry about yourself telling me what happened when we're here later going over things."

Chuck looked at her. She was clearly only half teasing. It probably wasn't fair for her to express jealousy when she didn't allow him that same privilege. Then again, life wasn't always fair. "Great," he said sarcastically. "As long as there's no pressure."

Casey had heard about enough of their stupid banter. "Can we just go to work?" he growled. "That pizza I had for dinner isn't sitting that well as it is. Listening to you two is about to put me over the edge."

Silly banter aside, Smith being Fulcrum had them all a little spooked. Casey was taking no chances. He even drove to the hotel separately from Chuck and Sarah, just in case there was any surveillance.

As they were in the elevator Sarah grabbed Chuck's hand. "Don't worry about tonight," she said softly. "I'm not really sure why you want to talk to Carina but I hope you find out what it is you're looking for. Don't worry about me. Nothing much is going to happen tonight. We're going to be in the hotel bar. I'm highly trained as a seductress but even I can't work that fast."

That got them laughing. "I know," Chuck replied.

"For the record, I like worrying about you.

x-x-x-x-x

They quickly found the room and knocked on the door. After a few seconds, Carina opened it. "Hi, you two," she exclaimed as she hugged Sarah. "Come in,"

The room was very nice, much nicer than Sarah's room. It was a suite with a separate bedroom, kitchenette, and living room space. Smith was sitting on the sofa watching Sports Center. If his eyes were on Sarah, and they definitely were, who could really blame him? The cocktail dress she was wearing was stunning, maybe not quite as revealing as her first date dress, but not much. Smith definitely approved. He was making zero effort to hide how much he was looking forward to this. "Hi," he said.

Sarah looked around the room and laughed. "Nice room," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "So much for saving the taxpayer's money."

Carina was obviously in a good mood. She just laughed. "Well, it's still cheaper than two regular rooms," she explained.

Perhaps Smith wasn't literally drooling but he obviously was in a hurry. "Are you ready to give these two some privacy?" he asked. "What did you have in mind for tonight?"

It was a loaded question. There was little question what he had in mind for tonight. Sarah realized that this would be harder than the usual assignment. She had to encourage him, but she also had to set some boundaries. Otherwise he'd be dragging her in a closet someplace for a quickie. "I thought we'd go down to the bar for an hour, get to know each other, and have a drink," she answered with a smile. "Or maybe even two. Would that be okay?"

Smith nodded. "Fine," was all he said.

"Okay," Sarah said. "Let's get going. Behave yourselves, you two." Carina knew Sarah well enough to get the meaning behind the look she was flashing. "We'll be back in about an hour."

As soon as they left the room, Sarah turned her megawatt smile towards him. She looped her arm around his and pulled him in close. "I'm so looking forward to having an adult conversation," she sighed.

"I feel like I've been babysitting for a year now."

x-x-x-x-x

As soon as the door closed, Carina walked over to where Chuck was standing. She grabbed his hand and practically pulled him into the middle of the room. The predatory smile was back in full force. "Chuck," she said. "I can't tell you how much I've been looking forward to seeing you again. Please, sit down. Let me get you a drink."

Chuck really didn't know what to expect. But a drink would really help. So he sat on the sofa in the same spot where Smith had previously been sitting. As soon as Carina handed him the beer, he took a long pull. Chuck noticed that she was sitting next to him just a little closer then would normally be appropriate.

Carina's grin was now ear to ear. "I understand that here are some things that you want to know about Sarah," she said. "You came to the right place. I know everything about that girl that there is to know. I know things about her that she doesn't even know herself. First, let's discuss my fee."

"Fee?" Chuck asked in surprise.

"Don't worry," Carina said. "It's not a big fee. How about a trade? I'll tell you about Sarah and you can tell me about you."

That was maybe the very last thing Chuck expected her to say. "What do you want to know about me?" he asked.

Carina's answer was simple. "Like… how you taste."

Sarah was sure right about Carina. The girl was fast. She already had her shirt off and was kissing him. It started off hard on the lips, and then started working on his neck. "I prefer nonverbal communication," she moaned between wet kisses.

Chuck was too stunned to move. He instinctively tried to move away from her but he was trapped by the sofa armrest. "Carina, no," he stammered.

"Come on, Chuck," Carina moaned as she continued up and down his neck. "I know you want this. I want it too."

Chuck didn't know what to do. He was basically trapped. "Please stop," he pleaded.

Carina intentionally rubbed her bare breast against his arm. "I know that you want this," she insisted. "Don't worry. Sarah will never know. This is what spies do. It's one of the few benefits." She looked Chuck directly in the eyes. "I know you're nervous, so for this first time I'll do anything you want… anything at all. Try me."

Carina pressed her mouth to his again. Chuck could feel her tongue probing his lips.

Chuck pressed his palms against Carina's chest, trying to push her away.

Carina misinterpreted Chuck's intent. "Yes, Chuck," she moaned. "Now we're talking."

Finally Chuck was desperate. He pushed Carina as hard as he could. She flew backwards off the sofa and landed hard on the floor. She appeared to bounce once before coming to rest. She looked at Chuck with confusion written all over her face.

"I'm so sorry," Chuck said in a panic. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I just couldn't get you to stop. Are you okay?"

Carina's face slowly changed from a look of confusion to a sad smile. "You really do love her, don't you?" she asked.

There was really only one answer to that. "I really do." Chuck offered his hand to help Carina up.

"Okay, Chuck," Carina said as Chuck helped her to her feet. "What do you want to know?"

Carina sat back down on the sofa, this time a respectable distance away. "What the hell was that all about?" Chuck demanded. "I thought that you were Sarah's friend?"

Carina's predatory smile changed. Now it was relaxed and friendly. "I am her friend. It's more than that. She's the sister I never had. We trained together, been all over the world together. I'm very protective of her. For always acting like the badass, she's actually very vulnerable. I had to find out if you were going to break her heart. I was never going to allow that to happen. The thing is, I'm an spy. That's how I get men to tell me the truth."

Chuck still wasn't buying it. "I told you that I loved her," he said. "What more do you need?"

Carina looked at him like he'd suddenly grown a third eye. "You mean a man would never lie about loving a women?" she asked in a sarcastic tone. "Yeah, you said it. Sorry, that wasn't good enough. I didn't believe it. Now I do. If you're going to be in love with a spy, you'd better get used to it."

Chuck averted his eyes from Carina's profile. Her chest wasn't nearly Sarah's size. But he had to admit, she was perky. "Do you think that you could put your shirt back on?" he asked.

Maybe it wasn't his proudest moment. But he had to know. They talked about seduction missions all the time. He really hadn't seen it happen. "So you're telling me that Sarah does this?"

Carina laughed. "Of course," she answered. "Sarah's style is more subtle than mine. She draws the line at actual sex. But if you're asking if Sarah has used her body to get information from a mark, then yes, she has, many times."

"So tell me," Chuck said. "What would you have done if I hadn't stopped you?"

That got Carina laughing even harder. "I don't draw that line," she said. "We would have had about forty-five minutes of wild monkey sex. You would have learned some new positions. If you had impressed me with the tongue thing that Sarah raves about, you might get another visit from me someday. Then later tonight I would have told Sarah that you betrayed her and… well, I think you can figure out how it would go from there."

"What about six months ago?" Chuck asked. "Was that a test too?"

Carina shook her head. "That was real," she said. "I love Sarah but we are competitive. You weren't in any sort of relationship then, so you were fair game."

Chuck was finally able to breathe normally. "What can you tell me about Sarah that will help me understand her better?" he asked.

Carina paused for a minute to collect her thoughts. "Sarah's real life was messed up. Even I don't know all of the details but her home life wasn't good. I think that's a common thing for agents. I think that Sarah is driven to be such a good agent because she is afraid of living in the real world. It hasn't been very good to her. I know that's why she stayed with her old boyfriend, Bryce for so long. You could tell from a mile away that she didn't love him. Has she told you about Bryce?"

Chuck knew that was an area where he should play dumb. Knowing that Bryce had been his roommate would get her thinking. He just nodded.

"Bryce was a great partner," Carina continued. "With Bryce, she could have a relationship without having to live in the real world. But it turned out that he was a lousy boyfriend. Most spies are."

"What was missing?" Chuck asked.

"Love," replied Carina. "Bryce never really cared for Sarah as a person. He wasn't there for her. She was only a convenience for him, his eye candy. He was only her friend when he wanted something. She really never loved him either."

"How do you know all of this?" Chuck asked.

Carina smiled again. "Well, let's just say if you were Bryce, we would be about half way through our sweaty monkey sex," she said. "One thing that you should know about Sarah. She is not a good spy. She's not a great spy. She's the very best spy that there is. There is some reason you're not telling me why she's assigned to you. You're obviously much more valuable then you're saying. I'm not asking and I don't want to know. It's obvious though."

"What can I do to help her?" Chuck asked.

"That's easy," Carina answered quickly. "Love her to death. Sarah's like most spies. They don't mind the dangerous assignments, because they really don't have anything to lose. In a way, you've changed that. Now Sarah has something to lose. Chuck, you can save her… or you can destroy her. Make sure that she knows that you're not leaving, no matter what."

"But I'm not leaving," Chuck insisted. "No matter what."

Carina laughed again. "If it was only that easy," she said. "Sarah honestly thinks that she loves you. I'm not sure and you never will be either."

Chuck wasn't expecting that. It sounded horrible. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"She's a trained actress," Carina explained. "She's used to fooling people who would kill her if they found out. If the mission called for her to act all lovesick to keep you controlled, she would act lovesick. You wouldn't be able to tell the difference and neither would I. The only way you'll ever know for sure is if she picks you over the job. Otherwise, you're going to wake up one morning and she'll be gone and you'll never see her again."

It was too horrible to even contemplate. "Can you put in a good word for me?" Chuck asked.

Carina nodded. "Yes," she said. "I just wish it would do any good. You're a nice guy, Chuck. I know that you really love Sarah. Even though you just spoiled my perfect seduction record, I hope you get through to her. I'm rooting for you."

"Perfect?" Chuck questioned. "How can that be?"

"Not counting the gay ones," Carina laughed. "Wait a minute. You're not gay are you? Don't answer that. Sarah has already told me all about the tongue thing. It's a shame that I'm not going to find out for myself."

"Thanks for your help," Chuck said. "Even though I didn't think so an hour ago, I'm happy that Sarah has you as a friend. I appreciate the information. You don't have to worry about her. I'm going to make her love me or die trying. You know I'm not coming on to you but do you think I could have a hug?"

"Of course," Carina said as she leaned into Chuck's shoulder for a brief hug.

"I won't even report this one."

x-x-x-x-x

Sarah and Smith were in the hotel bar. They were sitting next to each other in booth. They had just finished their second drink and were waiting for the waitress to bring the third round. Sarah had been putting off encouraging him. The boy didn't need much encouragement. He was already looking at her like hungry wolf looked at a stray lamb. The good news was they had to be back in an hour. Still, if she started too early, he'd think there was enough time to actually do something. And that was something Sarah needed him to anticipate. But finally, it was time to turn up the heat.

"I can't wait to get off this assignment," Sarah said with a laugh. She casually let her hand rest on Smith's thigh. "I feel like I have been in nerd heaven for the past year."

This guy certainly wasn't bashful. He made no attempt to hide looking down the front of her dress. His smarmy innuendo was typical of these pretty boys. They all thought that a few minutes of their wit would have any unsuspecting female's panties around her ankles. But her hand obviously sent the intended signal. His hand made a beeline to her thigh. "How did you get stuck here?" he asked.

That got Sarah laughing. "I don't know," she said. She leaned forward to make sure he got a better look. "Blow up one congressman's car by mistake and you end up here for a year. I think I would do just about anything to get out of this assignment and back to the field." Sarah squeezed his thigh a little for emphasis.

Smith's hand that was rubbing her thigh was going higher and higher under the table. He was obviously testing to see if she would stop him. Sarah only smiled… and opened her legs a little wider. "Carina tells me you're in love with this Chuck," Smith said.

Sarah laughed as she leaned her head on his shoulder. "Please," she said. "It was so easy to make him think that. You know how it goes with these nerds. Fuck them a couple of times and it's over. Now, he's my love sick slave. If I told him to cut off his right arm, he would. I just wish he'd get better at it."

"Well, Sarah," Smith said. "I may just be able to help you out. There's a group within the intelligence community that thinks our country is going in the wrong direction. We're always looking for good agents. Maybe we can meet tomorrow night and I'll introduce you to the regional leader. Maybe if that works out, we can go to your place and see where the night takes us." His hand had passed the top of her stockings and was very close to Chuck's de-panty zone.

"That sounds good," Sarah replied seductively. "If you can hook me up with someone who can get me off this assignment, I'm sure I can find a way to thank you properly."

"I'm going to hold you to that," Smith said.

"We'd better get back," Sarah said reluctantly. "Our hour's up. I'd better get back to babysitting. How about tomorrow, you don't start something that you can't finish? I'll pick you up at eight in front of the hotel."

"Sounds good to me."

Sarah still needed to ratchet up the anticipation another notch. She needed him to shut off his brain and think of nothing except the wild time she had promised tomorrow. As soon as the elevator doors closed she reached her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately. "Get me off this assignment," she said. "And that was just a small taste of me showing my appreciation."

And that was basically the mission. As seduction missions went, this one was pretty tame. And it had the potential to be a huge win. They didn't know much about Fulcrum's chain of command. But someone called a regional commander had to be big. An introduction to him might give them a chance to strike deep into the heart of Fulcrum. Beckman would be happy. Even better, Chuck would be happy. One kiss and that was it. And anything that made Chuck happy was pretty much okay with Sarah. They got to the room and Chuck was waiting expectantly.

"Are you ready to go?" Sarah asked.

"Yup," was Chuck's single word reply.

Once they were safely in the elevator, Chuck turned to Sarah. "How did it go?"

"Perfect," Sarah replied.

"The asshole is trying to recruit me into Fulcrum."

x-x-x-x-x


	7. Fallout

_I don't own Chuck. Actually, I don't own much of anything._

 _This is not new content. In fact, it is almost ten years old. This is the chapter that will probably change the most. Sarah Walker doesn't cry. She makes other people cry. There will maybe be a little more description of things that were implied in the original._

 _Look, I get that interest in things Chuck has waned. That's as it should be. So, while I'd always love to hear from you, I'm not doing this for hits or reviews. I'm doing this for me. Hopefully you can enjoy it as well._

 **Fallout**

x-x-x-x-x

Chuck and Sarah drove to Casey's apartment in silence. Sarah knew that there was something wrong, she just wasn't sure what. He couldn't be jealous. They had already talked about that. He was fine. Besides that, nothing happened that he hadn't seen before. Sure, she kissed Smith but how could he even know? Even if he did know, surely he would understand that, wouldn't he? Maybe Carina said something to upset him. They were in the parking lot. It was the last time to talk until after the briefing. "Chuck?" she asked softly. "Is there something wrong?"

Chuck didn't deny that there was something wrong. "Can we talk about it after the meeting?" he asked sadly. "I really don't think I'm up to it right now."

"Chuck," Sarah said. "Sweetie, if there's something wrong I'd appreciate it if you'd tell me. I won't be able to concentrate in the briefing knowing that you're upset with me. And I always need to be on my toes with Beckman. You know whatever it is; you can talk to me about it."

"I'm not upset with you," Chuck replied. "Don't worry. It's nothing like that. I'm just a little down. I'd rather wait until we have the time to really talk. Do you mind if I take a quick shower and meet you at Casey's?"

"That will be fine," Sarah replied. "I'll see you there in a few minutes." As Chuck was walking away, Sarah called to him. "Chuck… I love you."

Normally, her saying that would have generated an immediate response. The very fact that he paused at all told Sarah everything she needed to know. "I love you too," Chuck finally said as he continued walking.

x-x-x-x-x

The second that Sarah entered Casey's apartment, she stepped up to him. "What's wrong with Chuck?" she asked. "Did Carina say something to upset him?"

Casey made no effort to keep the annoyance from his tone. "Before or after she tried to get him in bed?" he asked sarcastically. "Actually, she wasn't planning on making it to the bed. She jumped him on the couch. You ought to be very proud of your boy. Carina's perfect seduction record is history. Trust me, she threw every trick she has at him and he didn't budge. Any other guy, including me, would have been all over her."

Sarah smiled. "I was pretty sure that she might try something like that. It was predictable. Chuck would never betray me. I had zero fear of that."

"Then why would you put him through some bullshit test?" Casey asked angrily. "That seems cruel."

"This was Chuck's idea," Sarah protested. "He wanted to talk to her. It wasn't my test. I don't need to test Chuck. I know where he's at. I warned him that something like this was going to happen."

"It still seems stupid and unnecessary," Casey growled. "But I don't think that's why he is down. After he shot her down, they started talking. She told him that there was no way he could ever be sure that you loved him. She said that if you were just trying to control your asset, you'd act the same way and he'd never be able to know the difference. Then she moved in for the kill. She told him that he might wake up one morning and you'd be gone and he'd have no way to begin to look for you. He'd never see you again."

Sarah's heart sank. Now she understood Chuck's mood. Of all the bad things that Carina could have told him, that was the worst. It was a simply horrible thought. "No," she whispered.

Casey squared off on Sarah. "Let me ask you a question," he snapped. "You know that I'm not a big fan of this relationship thing. But, against my better judgement, I covered for you. You owe me the unvarnished truth. Let me be brutally honest. If you're playing him I'm going to be pissed. He's a decent kid… and no one deserves that. You should be straight with him and request reassignment. What happens to Chuck when he finds out that you've been messing with him? He went on a five year jag when his other girlfriend dumped him. This would be ten times worse. Who could recover from a Sarah Walker heartbreak?"

In spite of the near panic at the situation, Sarah couldn't help but smile. In a left-handed way, he had just given her a compliment. Casey could deny it all he wanted. In his own emotionally stunted way, he loved Chuck just as much as she did. "Casey," she said softly. "It's sweet that you worry about him. I worry about him too. He has serious problems. But I'm not one of them. The last thing I would ever do is break his heart. I honestly love him. If anyone hurt him like you're saying, I would hunt them down and tear them apart with my bare hands. We're going to spend the rest of our lives together. But you'd have to admit, this situation is complicated. We have to keep him safe… and keep the powers that be from taking him underground."

Casey still wasn't satisfied. "That's good," he said. "But if you're going to stick around, I think that you need to be honest with the kid. I heard you and Jim Smith tonight. I heard you tell him that you were playing your asset. I also heard you make plans to take him to your hotel room. Then you kissed him. Now I know all that was just for cover. But Chuck doesn't know that. It's probably all going to come out in the debriefing. I'm sure that is going to mess with his head."

"Chuck does know that," Sarah protested. "He knew everything that I was going to do with Smith and why. Maybe he doesn't know about the details of what happened tonight yet. But we talked about the possibilities and were both prepared for it to be much worse. He heard every detail of what happened in the van the other night with that white supremacist. Chuck is on board with what I have to do. Maybe he doesn't like it… but who would? Casey, this is complicated. In our current situation, neither of us have any choice. We're dealing with it as best we can. The truth is that I'm very proud of him. I'm not messing with Chuck. I'm in love with him. I have been for a long time. I'm never going to leave."

Finally Casey was satisfied. "You'd better find some way to prove that to him," he said. "Or we're going to have a sad, pathetic asset to deal with for a while."

x-x-x-x-x

When Chuck arrived at Casey's, Casey and Sarah were already talking to Washington. "So," Beckman said. "Let me get this straight, Agent Walker. Agent Smith is trying to recruit you into joining Fulcrum? He is going to introduce you to the regional commander? After only a single meeting? That was a foolish mistake on his part. Are we sure that this isn't a trap? Why would he be so reckless?"

Sarah considered the question. The real truth was awkward with Chuck standing right there, especially since he was already depressed. But this had the potential to be a huge win. Beckman was skeptical. She had to be convinced. "We can't be completely sure," Sarah began hesitantly. "But I'm reasonably confident. Smith was obviously quite… um… enamored. So I played on that. I cried on his shoulder that my career was going nowhere. I told him that I was bored with my current assignment, disgusted with the agency, and would be grateful to get out of here. Smith offered to help. He didn't admit that he was talking about Fulcrum, but he did describe a group within the intelligence community that was going in a different direction. He offered to introduce me to the regional commander as long as I would show him my, umm, my gratitude later. I agree, ma'am. If he had been thinking rationally, he would never have done it. I had to make sure that all he is thinking about is his… well, his reward. I kissed him and made sure he knew how grateful I would be. I'm very confident that he's going to want me to pay off."

Beckman actually started laughing. "Very resourceful," she praised. "That's really using your head… and the rest of your body as well. What is your plan tomorrow?"

"I'm picking him up tomorrow at 8:00," Sarah replied. "He is taking me for the meet. Then he is planning on coming with me back to my place for the rest of the night."

"Major Casey," Beckman said. "Make arrangements to tail Walker and Smith. Take the Intersect along to see if he flashes on anybody. As soon as we've identified the location of the Fulcrum commander and Walker is safely gone, we'll raid whatever facility they meet in. Maybe there will be other Fulcrum agents there as well. As soon as we have them in custody and can no longer be covert, you can apprehend Smith. We'll bring in Agent Miller for questioning and if we're convinced she's clean, we'll be done with this. I don't have to tell you what a huge opportunity this is. We have a great chance to deal Fulcrum a severe blow. I don't want this opportunity to pass. You have your orders. Dismissed."

x-x-x-x-x

Sarah waited until they were back in her room. That's what Chuck wanted, a private place to talk. The silence was deafening. Finally, she couldn't stand the tension another second. "I'm not playing you," she said softly. "I promise. I know what Carina told you. And, yes, I denied it for a long time. It's even true that I probably wouldn't have allowed us to happen except that it was affecting our performance. But none of that changes the fact that I've been in love with you for a year now. I was suffering from my stupid decision just as much as you were. The past few days have been the best of my life."

"Sarah," Chuck said sadly. "Carina said that's exactly what you would say if you were playing a role. I desperately want to believe you. But Carina told me that I can't."

Sarah paused for a long moment. It was probably the first time in her life that she was honestly ashamed of being a spy. She had done some pretty horrible things in her career. She had killed countless people. But all of those things were for the greater good. Here was this nice, decent man, who was now being told that he couldn't trust the woman that he was in love with. It was a horrible thought. "Listen to me," she finally said. "What Carina told you is technically true. Spies are trained to get close to men. Sometimes those assignments last for months. I've never done it but it happens. If I wanted to play someone and convince them that I was in love with them, I probably could. But I think that you know me too well. I don't think I could fool you, in fact, I'm sure of it. I was trying to fool you for a year into believing that I wasn't in love with you. Did you buy it?"

Chuck's face finally broke into a smile… a faint smile, true… but it was definitely a smile. He stepped up and wrapped his arms around her. "I never bought it," he said. "Sarah, I'm sorry. You shouldn't ever have to defend yourself to me. That was unacceptable."

Sarah was far too happy to feel anything but relieved. It was an awful situation that they were in. It was so complicated that she was having a hard time keeping it straight in her head. She was asking him to put up with things that no man should ever be asked to put up with. So she returned his warm embrace. "You're doing your best," she said. "That means you get tons of slack from me."

"That's not all that Carina told me," Chuck said as they continued to embrace. "She said that you were the best agent, mostly because you didn't have anything to lose. Now you have something to lose. Sarah, am I hurting your career? I know how important that is to you."

For the second time tonight, Sarah was honestly ashamed… this time of herself. He didn't know… because she hadn't told him. Being a CIA Agent was the only adult life she had ever known. She lived for the excitement of the next mission. But that was over. And the truth was, she was glad that it was over. She was no longer a CIA Agent… not really. Oh, she still had the title and ID. Fighting for the greater good was still a noble cause. But her loyalty had changed. Now she was a Chuck Bartowski Agent. He was her first and last priority. That would be true for the rest of her life. She simply had to find a way to get over her hang ups and let him know that. And the fact was, Carina was wrong. Maybe she had something to lose now… something wonderful… but there was a fact she wasn't considering. You'd fight ten times harder to protect someone you loved. "Don't worry about that," she said. "You're much more important than my career. You have been for a long time."

That clearly made an impression on Chuck, because he squeezed her even tighter. "Thank you," he said.

They just stayed there, holding each other in the middle of the room, for a long time. "So far, I'm not digging your talk with Carina," Sarah finally teased. "Is there anything else I should add to the list when I kick her ass?"

Chuck paused for a moment to consider the question. "She told me that the people in the real world haven't treated you very well. She said that has made you think of the job as your life. I agree that it's a very important job. But I can picture another job that's just as important. Picture there's a baby girl taking her first steps. Her mother needs to be there to catch her when she falls… to take her to her first day of school and calm her fears… to make her know that everything is okay when it thunders… to teach her about clothes and boys and the difference between being sexy and being slutty… maybe even teach her how to throw a knife. That job is every bit as important as being an agent."

Sarah continued to hold on tight.

"You've probably guessed that I hope that little girl is my daughter too," Chuck continued. "Sarah, I know that this is uncomfortable for you. I'm not going to press you about it tonight. I just want to tell you something. You've done your duty to your country. You've done more than any ten people put together. Now it's time for you. The one good thing that Carina told me is that I should love you to death. So that's exactly what I'm going to do. I know I can't promise you exciting missions. I can't promise you that you won't ever feel hurt or sad. Life just doesn't work like that. What I can promise you is that you'll always, always be the most loved person on the planet… no matter what… forever."

Wow. Was that the most romantic speech in the history of the world, or what? And the best part… he truly meant it. Sarah looked up at Chuck. "I'd like that," she said through the tears she was blinking away. "Chuck, I'm sorry this is so hard for me. I want those things more than you do. I want you to feel just as loved. Can you be patient with me?"

"I can be very patient," Chuck sighed. "I don't expect this to happen overnight. In our current situation, I don't think that's even possible. All I ask is that we agree that's what we're fighting for"

"We agree," Sarah said. "At least Carina told you something good. Maybe I can pull back on the ass kicking a little. Did she tell you anything else?"

Chuck already had her zipper lowered and her dress half off. "She told me to double down on the tongue thing," he teased. "I think that was pretty good advice."

Okay, so maybe Carina would be spared an ass kicking… this time. Chuck taking the lead in the physical department would probably always be an instant turn on for her. Their tongues dancing had Sarah beyond the capacity for rational thought. She barely recognized that he had carried her to the bed and was already kissing his way down her stomach. She had to resist the strong temptation to push on his head to get him to hurry. That was just her normal need to control the situation. He was doing fine all on his own. And he plainly wasn't going to hurry anyway. In fact he was going to slowly and lovingly get her to the edge and keep her there for a long, long time before finally allowing her to scream out her release… partly to prove that he could… partly because he enjoyed listening to her helplessly moan… but mostly because he loved her. All she could do was sigh.

"It was very good advice."

x-x-x-x-x

Chuck was stirring in that half-awake, half asleep zone. He felt the most contented that he could ever remember. It was another of those simply amazing dreams. He willed himself to go back to sleep to finish it. Then Sarah stirred and her hair tickled his chest. He opened his eyes and took in her beauty. It wasn't a dream. Someday maybe he'd get used to this. Then he realized why he was awake. There was a pounding at the door.

Chuck looked over at Sarah. It was a testament to her contentment that he had wakened to the sound before the seasoned spy.

He was about half way to the door when he heard her voice. "You know that you're naked?" she asked.

Chuck looked back and saw that Sarah had already sprung into action. She had pulled on his t-shirt. Her gun was in her hand, trained at the door.

Chuck wrapped a sheet around his waist. When he looked into the spy hole, his shoulders noticeably sagged. "Come in," he said. "You're going to wake up the neighbors."

"Hi, Chuck," Bryce said. "It's good to see you."

"Sarah, would you mind not pointing your gun at me?"

x-x-x-x-x


	8. The Ex

_I don't own Chuck. Actually, I don't own much of anything._

 _This is not new content. In fact, it is almost ten years old. This is the chapter that will probably change the most. In fact, there will be more chapters in the rewrite. Sarah Walker doesn't cry. She makes other people cry. There will maybe be a little more description of adult things that were implied in the original, but still firmly T._

 _Look, I get that interest in things Chuck has waned. That's as it should be. So, while I'd always love to hear from you, I'm not doing this for hits or reviews. I'm doing this for me. Hopefully you can enjoy it as well._

 **The Ex**

x-x-x-x-x

Sarah looked at her ex standing there for a long moment and finally lowered her gun. "Bryce," she exclaimed. "It's four in the morning. What in the world are you doing here?"

Bryce looked around, obviously taking in the scene. It wasn't hard to figure out that Sarah was naked under the t-shirt that she barely had in place in time to avoid him getting even more of an eyeful than he already was. With the light behind her, Chuck's plain white t-shirt hid nothing of her curves anyway. Chuck was just pulling on his pants. "I just talked to General Beckman," Bryce explained. "I want to talk to you about your mission. Do you think you could make some coffee? We'll need to be alert for this."

Sarah lived in a hotel room. It didn't really have a kitchen. But there was a microwave and coffee pot. That was good enough. As Sarah went to start the coffee maker, Bryce turned to Chuck. "I'm very surprised to see you here," he said. "Are you working on your cover?"

Chuck considered how to answer. In the first place, why would Bryce come to Sarah's room at four in the morning if he thought she'd be alone? When he answered his own question, he didn't much like the answer. He wasn't allowed much jealousy. But it had to be okay in this circumstance, didn't it? By the look on Bryce's face, he had already guessed the situation, right? How could he not? Why else would they both be naked at four in the morning? But this was complicated… even more than usual. Chuck didn't know a lot about Sarah's relationship with Bryce. This was something that Sarah should probably explain to him to let him down easy. Maybe he should find an excuse to leave and give them some privacy. And since Chuck was already an expert in playing dumb… well, you might as well use your skills. "Something like that," he replied hesitantly.

Sarah was just waiting for Bryce to pounce on Chuck. That was pretty predictable. Like he really wanted coffee at four in the morning. So she wasn't nearly as hesitant. "Bryce," she called. "Chuck and I are together." So much for letting him down easy.

Bryce stood and processed her words carefully. "Together?" he asked incredulously. "What does that mean? Like a couple? Cover together or real together?"

There was one good thing about today's talk with Carina, and the associated heartache. Sarah had learned her lesson. Chuck deserved to know where he stood with her. This was an awkward situation, but she was no longer prepared to dance around. "Together, together," she replied. "Do you have a problem with that?"

Bryce was plainly searching for words. "I might," he replied. "Sarah, this is disappointing. You're supposed to be a professional. Since when are you sleeping with your asset?"

Chuck didn't exactly know where this was going, but he did know that it wasn't going well. He stepped in between them trying to defuse the tense situation. "Since we're in love," he said, looking to Sarah for reassurance.

Bryce did a clear double take. "Love?" he asked mockingly. "Love? Chuck, Sarah is a spy. Spies don't fall in love…especially not with an asset."

There was another good thing about his talk with Carina. Chuck had already had his fill of spies lecturing him on love… especially ones who knew absolutely nothing about the subject. "No, Bryce," he replied pointedly. "Sarah is a person first. She just happens to also be a spy. I'm going to have to insist that you respect that distinction."

Now it was Sarah's turn to try and defuse a tense situation. "Let's calm down," she suggested as she put her arm around Chuck's waist. "Bryce, we're in love. Quite frankly, I'm not really asking for your approval. I am sorry that you had to find out like this. That wasn't my plan. I was going to tell you. This is the sort of thing that happens when you show up in our bedroom uninvited at four in the morning. But we are in love. That is the reality and it's not going to change. Deal with it."

Bryce started laughing. "You're pulling my leg," he said. "I would never have guessed this in a million years."

Chuck and Sarah had the same reaction… and they expressed it at the same time. "Why?"

Bryce starred at Sarah. "You're still in love with me," he said. "Sarah, if you just needed to get laid, you should have called me. I know how that is." He turned to Chuck. "And Chuck, buddy. Look at her… then look in the mirror. I love you man, but you have to admit, she's totally out of your league."

That was the one thing he could have said that would hit a nerve. Chuck already knew that he was right. He told himself the same thing several times a day. Sarah was a thousand miles out of his league. He just looked at the floor and nodded sadly.

Sarah saw Chuck's reaction… and instantly saw red. It was the very last thing that he needed to hear… especially today. If he hadn't been strategically standing between them, Bryce would have tasted her left foot and hit the floor semi-conscious. The t-shirt she was barely wearing was perfect for throwing a kick. "You arrogant, egocentric son of a bitch," she bristled. "Let me tell you something. I'll use small words so you can understand. First, I was never in love with you. You're deceiving yourself. And you were never in love with me. That was pretty plain. Whatever we once had is so over. It has been for a long time. Even that's not accurate. We're not over… we never were. We were partners who hooked up, never more. Second, let me tell you a little something about this man that you're talking down to. Chuck is the most genuine, gentle, sweetest person I've ever met. He's more of a hero than you and I put together. I can't believe that he'd be interested in me. But he loves me… for me. If anyone is out of their league in this relationship, he's out of mine. I don't know how to tell you this plainly enough so you'll understand. I'm in love with him. We protect each other. I'm going to spend the rest of my life with him. So here is my one time warning to you. I strongly suggest that you wipe that patronizing smirk off your face. Disrespect my amazing fiancé again, and I'm going to wipe the floor with it. Now, tell us what you want or get the fuck out of our bedroom."

Bryce actually smiled at her rant. She wasn't kidding at all. It sure wouldn't be the first time that this hothead used his face to wipe the floor. That was the Sarah he knew. "Let's calm down," he said. "Sarah, you always get too emotional. I'm here because I need your help with Fulcrum."

That was probably the only thing that Bryce could have said that wouldn't have ended the conversation. In spite of his faults, Bryce was still a great agent. Fulcrum was the thing that stood in the way of the life with Chuck that she desperately wanted. "I'm listening," she said.

After Chuck handed him his cup of coffee, Bryce carefully sipped it. "I understand that this Jim Smith has offered to introduce you to the Fulcrum Regional Commander today," Bryce began. "Regional Commander is just another word for Elder. Beckman tells me that your plan calls for you to take the Elder and Smith out as soon as the introduction is over. I don't want you to do that."

Sarah thought about it for a second. "Why?" she asked.

"Think about the opportunity," Bryce continued. "If we capture the Elder, that's a nice win. You might be able to put a serious crimp in the entire west coast operation… for a while. But Fulcrum will still survive. Now if you could infiltrate the Fulcrum organization, we could possibly take the whole thing down. I'm thinking that you would meet with this guy, agree to join Fulcrum, and possibly take a couple of assignments to prove your loyalty to them. Then you'll have their confidence and we can finally have someone on the inside. Maybe you could even get close to the Elder and be in their inner circle. Imagine what an Elder's girlfriend could find out about their plans."

Chuck had been standing there listening. "I have two problems with that," he said. "First, it's way too dangerous. Fulcrum isn't stupid. They would be watching any new recruit like a hawk for a long time. Second, Sarah would have to do a lot more than perform a couple of assignments. She already made a deal to be his plaything to even get this far. If she were to keep up her cover for the months you're talking about, she'd have to spend a lot of that time on her knees."

"Of course she would," Bryce agreed. "So what? That's how she would gain the Elder's confidence. Look at her. Can you imagine any man not giving her a chance to hit her knees? It's what long term undercover assignments are."

"That's unacceptable to me," Chuck insisted. "It's not worth it."

"Chuck, try and understand," Bryce said. "Sarah is a spy. She does whatever is required for the mission. Spending some nights with this guy is no big deal. If you're worried about her knees, let me assure you from personal experience, they're in great shape. If she's as 'in love' with you as she claims, I'm stunned that you don't already know that. And missions? She's done this plenty of times. I can't tell you how many times it happened when we were together. It never bothered me."

Sarah bristled at the implied shot Bryce just took. Not only was it meant to hurt Chuck, it wasn't even close to being true… and he damn well knew it. It was something that she'd have to explain fully to Chuck later.

But Chuck beat her to it. He actually laughed at the condescending tone. "It sort of makes you wonder why you're not still together," he replied sarcastically. "Doesn't it? You crack me up. Boasting about your sex life in front of me? Really? I'm not sure why I expected a little more class from you… but I did. You come in here thinking that she loves you and you treat her like this? As the one person in this room who actually does love her, allow me to ask you a question on her behalf. Let's assume these men were gay. Would you come over and be their plaything for months to gain his confidence? I assume your knees would be up to it."

"That's not the same thing," Bryce answered. "Of course not."

Chuck pushed his advantage. "It's a lot easier when it's Sarah who's on her knees," he said. "Isn't it?"

Bryce knew that this conversation wasn't going his way. "Sarah," he said as he stood and walked to the door. "We both know that I can't order you to do this. Beckman said it was your decision. You know this is the right thing. You can't let some fling cause you to shirk your duty. Please try to talk some sense into him."

"Call Beckman and let her know whatever you decide."

x-x-x-x-x

As soon as Bryce left, Chuck turned to Sarah. "What happed to him?" he asked. "He wasn't like this. He was my best friend."

Sarah looked at him sadly. "This is what I've been trying to tell you for the past ten days," she said. "He became a spy. Spies are different. That's what this life turns you into."

"Is he going to rat us out?"

Sarah carefully considered how much to tell him. The truth was that Bryce was probably currently heading to talk to Beckman. But on the way he would stop, think this through, and see it as an opportunity. That was all pretty predictable. Since sex was his standard currency, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what the price would be for his silence. She didn't want to hide anything from Chuck. But she also didn't want to put an unpleasant thought in his head, especially since it was never going to happen. So she settled for half the truth. "Don't worry about Bryce," she said. "I have a plan."

Chuck thought for a moment. "I'm sorry for how this is going to sound," he said. "But I know him. He's someplace right now calculating what price you'll pay to keep our secret. I'm afraid that it involves your knees."

Sarah looked at him standing there grinning. He really wasn't a spy… but he was a fast learner. At least he was teasing about it… mostly anyway. Bryce was always going to be a sensitive subject for him. There really wasn't anything wrong with that. So she grinned back at him. "Are you trying to make me nauseous?" she teased. "For the record, his disgusting boasting to the contrary, Bryce rarely saw my knees when we were together. He sure as hell has had his last look. Please don't worry about Bryce. I have this covered… knee free."

Chuck was still grinning. He nodded. "Thank you for sticking up for me," he said. "Calling me your fiancé? That really helped me."

"Don't thank me," Sarah insisted. "You are my fiancé. The only thing missing is the proposal. That's coming soon enough, isn't it? I didn't tell him a single thing that wasn't true. You have it all over him. You're jealous of Bryce. I get it. It's kinda cute. But it's also kinda silly. He's much more jealous of you. It drives him crazy." She smiled at him. "So let's talk about the eight hundred pound gorilla in the room."

"Please don't do this," Chuck pleaded. "It's too dangerous. It's too demeaning. No one can expect you to do this."

Actually, that wasn't the particular gorilla she was talking about. She expected him to ask about Bryce's snarky inference that she had used sex on missions. It never happened. Bryce knew that full well. They argued about it all the time. As far as the snarky inference about his personal experience with her knees? Okay, that had maybe happened a few times… but it certainly lacked any pretense at enthusiasm and happened about one percent of the times he begged for it. Maybe Chuck was right. That was a discussion they could have in more detail in a calmer time… one where she could take her time and make a point to him about the difference between a partner and a fiancé when it came to enthusiasm. Actually, it was sweet that he was looking out for her. "Chuck," Sarah sighed. "I promise that whatever I'm going to do today, we're going to decide it together. So can we please discuss this without emotion or jealousy? Bryce is right about one thing. It's my duty."

"This is not about me being jealous," Chuck insisted. "Of course, I'm jealous. The thought of Jim Smith possessing you in this very room makes me sick to my stomach. I don't think I could deal with you being gone for a few minutes, much less a few months. But that's not my main concern. For one thing, it wouldn't work. They're too smart. It would be a year or more before they trusted you enough to make a difference."

Sarah thought about the possibilities. The truth was, as usual, he was right. Fulcrum would be very suspicious of any new recruit. She would never be able to hide her past history as Graham's enforcer. "I know," she said. "It would be hard."

"Hard?" Chuck questioned. "It would be impossible to keep up the level of cover that would be required for that long. They have too many sources of information. And once they found out the truth… well, I think you know what would happen."

Sarah stopped him. "Please don't underestimate me," she said. "Yes, they would be watching me. I'd have to do some pretty awful things to convince them… not just sex. I'd have to actually become a Fulcrum agent for a while. I would miss you every bit as much. But, Chuck, this is Fulcrum we're talking about. We're not going to ever have the life we want until they're defeated. If I can help do that, I want to seize every opportunity."

"It wouldn't work," Chuck insisted. "I'm not underestimating you. My main concern here isn't for Agent Walker anyway. She doesn't need me to take care of her. It's for you. Sarah, you have to get out of this mindset that you'll do anything for the mission. It's unhealthy… especially when the people who are doing the ordering don't give a rip about you as a person. How can you ever hope to have a real life that has value, when you're so willing to throw it away on some suicide mission? They'll keep using you and using you until there's nothing left. You heard Bryce. He sure as hell isn't willing to do anything for the mission. Why should you? I'm really hoping that feeling loved will make a difference to you."

Sarah stepped up and threw her arms around him. "If it hadn't made a difference, we wouldn't be having this conversation," she replied as she squeezed him tight.

"We're going to fight them together," Chuck insisted. "This isn't jealousy. If you have to do things in that fight that a boyfriend, or even a fiancé, wouldn't like, I promise to fully support you. But, Sarah, this isn't smart. If you overrule me, will I be happy? Of course not. Will I be jealous? Insanely. Will it change the way I feel for you? No way in hell."

Sarah could only smile. That was her Chuck. How could he possibly believe that he didn't measure up… to anybody really… but especially to Bryce Larkin? It was ridiculous, something she would have to spend some time working on. "I'll never overrule you," she said. "I'll maybe try and convince you that I'm right sometimes. But I'll never overrule you. Those days are over."

Chuck just squeezed her tight.

After a minute, Sarah sighed. "Okay, Chuck. You win. For the first time in my life, I'm going to follow my heart. I'm going to stick with the original plan. I'll meet with the Elder. I'll flirt with him and agree to join Fulcrum. That may involve showing him some skin. I'll try and get them to give me an assignment. Then I'll bring Jim Smith back here and they can move in on the location. I'll either arrest Smith or throw a knife in his neck… but nothing else. Okay?"

Chuck kissed the top of her head lovingly. "Thank you," he said.

"No, Chuck," Sarah said trying to blink away the tears. "Thank you. A girl could really get used to this being loved thing."

They stayed in their tight embrace for a couple of minutes. "Wait a minute," Chuck said. "Did you just choose me over the job? Carina said that's when I could be sure."

That got Sarah laughing. He was teasing. After her effort this afternoon, if he wasn't sure, they had big problems. "I just did," she agreed. "Are you sure now?"

"Yup," Chuck replied. "Are you?"

"Yup," Sarah said. "I have been for a while."

Chuck broke the embrace and grabbed the hem of his t-shirt. Sarah quickly got the hint and raised her arms as he lifted it. "I just thought of something," he said. "If you're not going to be having any wild, monkey sex with Jim Smith tonight… well that puts you dangerously below your quota. It's a little early, but I'd be willing to help you fix that if you'd like."

And there it was. He could always make her laugh. "I surely wouldn't want to be below my quota," Sarah said. "I'm not exactly sure what it means, but it sounds positively unhealthy… not to mention possibly illegal."

Chuck had the t-shirt about half way off when he was interrupted by a knock on the door. "If that's Bryce again," he groaned as he dropped the shirt back into place. "Trained agent or not, I'm finding a way to kick his ass."

Just then they heard another knock followed by Carina's voice.

Sarah raised her index finger to Chuck and walked over to the door. She opened it a crack. "Carina, this is not a good time. Is this an emergency?"

"No," Carina answered. "Not really. I do need to talk."

Sarah laughed. Carina had slammed the door on her in the opposite situation only about a million times. "Then come back in about a half hour," she said as she closed the door.

Yeah, it was four in the morning. But when it came to making love, if Chuck was going to offer, Sarah surely wasn't ever going to turn it down. She sauntered over to where he was standing. "I don't think that you realize what you do to me when you make the first move."

Chuck shook his head with a grin. "I respectfully beg to differ," he protested. "I'm pretty sure I can see it poking through my t-shirt."

That got Sarah laughing again. "Touché," she said as she again lifted her arms above her head. "It's too exciting to waste."

"Now what was it about that quota?"

x-x-x-x-x

It was about forty five minutes later that Carina knocked on the door again. "Sarah, I need to talk," she said as soon as she was in the room.

"Carina," Sarah said with a smile. "Your timing leaves a little to be desired."

Carina just laughed. "Hi, Chuck," she said. "I was hoping that it was you in here." She responded to Sarah's look. "Come on, guys," she said. "I'm just kidding. I guess our talk must have primed the pump a little. Did you double down on the tongue thing like I told you?"

Sarah narrowed her eyes. "I heard all about your 'talk' earlier," she said. "For the record, he did double down… multiple times. Just for your information, the Chuck seduction score is Sarah one, Carina zero."

Chuck wanted to let them talk. "I'm going to take a shower," he said over his shoulder. "Yes, Carina, a cold shower. I hope you're happy. By the way, if I am remembering last night correctly, the score is Sarah five, Carina zero. She's pitching a shutout."

Carina wasn't done teasing. "I wouldn't get too cold if I was you," she said. "I'm only going to stay for a few minutes." She turned to Sarah. "Okay, bust my chops. Tell me how great it was. Is he still rocking your world?"

"Ladies," Chuck said over his shoulder. "Could we possibly defer this discussion until I'm actually in the shower? Or dead?"

That got Sarah laughing. "What did you want to talk about?" she asked. "And, just to get this out of the way, hell yes. If anything, every time is getting better."

Carina wasted no time getting to the point. "I overheard Jim talking on the phone when he thought I was asleep," she said. "Sarah, I think he might be Fulcrum."

Sarah looked Carina directly in the eye. "He is," she said. "I can't tell you how I know. Don't ask. But I knew a while ago. That's why I agreed to take him down to the bar last night. He tried to recruit me two different times… into Fulcrum and into my pants. I was going to tell you later. Carina, be honest with me. Where are you in all of this?"

Carina was honestly offended. "Come on, Sarah," she protested. "You can't possibly believe that I'd be part of Fulcrum."

Sarah breathed a noticeable sigh of relief. She never doubted Carina's loyalty. But tonight's visit would be the proof that Beckman would need. "Of course not," she said. "Beckman insisted that we be very careful. Smith made a date with me for tonight to introduce me to the regional commander. I'm picking him up in front of the hotel at eight. Once we meet with the commander and I've defected to Fulcrum, we're planning a major operation. Jim thinks that he's coming back here so I can show him my gratitude… and the other things he wants to see."

"Let me guess," Carina said sarcastically. "Like your clothes lying on the floor."

"Pretty much," Sarah agreed. "I'm sorry."

"Why would you be sorry?" Carina asked. "You're not the scumbag traitor. And I almost forgot. I promised last night that I would put in a good word for Chuck. Looking at your face, I don't think he needs it. Anybody who would go through what I put him through last night deserves it. I may be the most cynical person in the world when it comes to these things… but that guy truly loves you."

Sarah laughed. "I know," she said. "He doesn't need it. It's so great. My feet haven't touched the ground since we got together. I'm going to have to give myself a serious pep talk before tonight's mission so I don't get distracted by daydreaming about him and get myself killed."

"You'll be fine," Carina reassured. "This is a piece of cake for Agent Walker. Speaking of tonight, what do you want me to do?"

Sarah just smiled. "Carina," she said. "I think I might just have a plan."

"Let's call Beckman."

x-x-x-x-x


	9. Playing Scrabble

_I don't own Chuck. Actually, I don't own much of anything._

 _I posted chapter 8 a few days ago. The site messed up and it didn't show up as updated so nobody has read it._

 _This is not new content. In fact, it is almost ten years old._

 _Look, I get that interest in things Chuck has waned. That's as it should be. So, while I'd always love to hear from you, I'm not doing this for hits or reviews. I'm doing this for me. Hopefully you can enjoy it as well._

 **Playing Scrabble**

x-x-x-x-x

Chuck stretched his arms in the air as he loudly yawned. Having a full time job at the Buy More, not to mention the full time job of missions being the human Intersect was a lot to handle. Add to that the new full time job of keeping Sarah's seemingly insatiable sex drive under control, and it wasn't leaving a lot of time for sleep. At least he was in the cage today. He probably wouldn't be very effective with customers anyway.

Being awakened at four in the morning by that rat bastard, Bryce, and the four, no wait five, strenuous workouts with Sarah had conspired to make him unusually tired. Even the several cups of coffee hadn't helped all that much. On balance, probably no one would feel all that sorry for him. But he was still tired. It wasn't helping that the clock was agonizingly dragging. When he last glanced up at the clock, it was only ten. He felt like he had already been here for ten hours and it had been only two.

They were going to have to talk to Beckman. Having to do this mind numbing job every day while worrying about the night's mission, wasn't only not working… it bordered on cruel torture. He understood that the Buy More was a good place to hide the Intersect. But there had to be something else. Beckman wasn't very sympathetic to personal concerns, but he could make a reasoned argument that she might accept. Of course he would have to leave out the part about Sarah's insatiable sex drive. Beckman probably wouldn't be all that interested in that. Or rather, she'd be very interested and put a stop to it.

At least in the cage, Chuck had time to think. As he stopped to contemplate his mood, he felt several different emotions. One of the main things in his head was fear. This was the most dangerous mission they had ever attempted. Sarah was going to be in the cross hairs of that danger, like she usually was. Those Fulcrum guys were ruthless. And their target was one of the Elders. Who knew what they knew… or how they knew it? If they suspected something, things could get very bad, very fast. She'd be basically on her own for a while. They wouldn't know the location until they tailed her there. So even if it wouldn't tip them off and blow Sarah's cover, backup couldn't get there in time to do her any good.

Another emotion was anger. How could Bryce barge in and say those things? Chuck had held off pressing Sarah about her relationship with Bryce. They were clearly a couple once… but what kind of couple? Sarah called it a hookup between spy partners. But he saw them kissing in his bedroom last Thanksgiving. That wasn't a kiss between two spy partners. Maybe it was time to press her for the truth a little. Sarah said that Bryce was jealous of him. That was hard to believe. Bryce never had a problem with the ladies. But even if it was true, he had no right to lash out at them like that. And the way he treated Sarah? That was simply unacceptable. Chuck vowed to himself that he would never treat her that way again. Not only that, there was the high probability of him ratting them out to Beckman. When he asked Sarah about it, she laughed and told him not to worry. What did she know about Bryce that had her so sure?

But if he was being honest, overwhelming those other thoughts was pure bliss. Yesterday had marked a significant change in their relationship. Sarah was fighting her demons and thinking about the future. She was talking about their kids, even suggested that he propose. That was a wonderful surprise, at least so soon.

Even their lovemaking… last night was different. Before, Sarah took charge and it was hard and fast… ripping clothes off… at least it started that way. Last night was gentler. She actually allowed him an opportunity to set the pace. Chuck's style was to slowly ratchet up the passion until it was white hot… and stay there for as long as possible. They were definitely learning to take the time to truly enjoy each other.

It was funny. He expected to be intimidated in bed by the goddess that Sarah Walker represented. But the truth was, he was anything but. Unlike the other women that Chuck had been with, he seemed to know exactly what to do with her. Gone was the awkward clumsiness that had dominated his other experiences. And Sarah? She was the strong, silent type. She was John freaking Wayne. At first she was obviously biting her lip to avoid showing her feelings. That had changed. Now she openly moaned her pleasure. Chuck loved to hear that. Every move that she made was simply perfect.

They just clicked… in bed and out. It was a testament to their undeniable chemistry. Of course he found her incredibly attractive, who wouldn't? But it was more than that. It was comfortable and exciting at the same time. Chuck could tell that Sarah had relaxed as well. She was much more comfortable and at peace. Whatever the reasons, it was fantastic.

Of course there were still complications… and here came one walking by, right on cue. "Damn, Bartowski," Casey growled as he passed the cage. "Are you telling me that I have to live with that look on your face all the time now? What did Walker do to you last night anyway?

Realizing in horror what he had just said, Casey tried to retreat. "No," he said quickly. "Forget that I said that. I don't want to know."

Of course, Casey dished out barbs at him regularly. So if he expected any mercy, well he wasn't going to get it. Chuck refused to let him off the hook. He took a moment to pretend to consider the question. "If you must know," he said. "We stayed up all night playing scrabble. Sarah is the best scrabble player I could ever imagine. The way she handles those letters is amazing. Casey, she can come up with words that would just defy imagination. She has this thing where she holds the letter, holds it, holds it, makes you almost scream in anticipation, them bam, triple word score. Every time we would end a game, she would beg me until I would agree to play another. I think that her begging for the next game was the best part. We played four, no wait five times last night."

Bull's eye. Casey extended his gun to Chuck with the handle forward. "Bartowski," he said. "What part of, I don't want to know, don't you understand? Either shut the hell up or shoot me. It's your choice."

As Casey walked away, Chuck got in one last parting shot. "I don't know what it is about hot chicks and scrabble," he called. "Carina asked me to play last night too. Too bad, she's not nearly as good of a player as Sarah is."

Chuck chuckled to himself. Target engaged and destroyed. At least Casey wouldn't be bothering him any more today. Of course he would want revenge. But that was part of the game they played. He glanced up at the clock. It was only another hour before he could go over and see her. Let's see, that's only 3,600 seconds.

x-x-x-x-x

Chuck finally was walking across the courtyard. He could see Sarah through the window waiting for him. She had lunch waiting for both of them sitting on a table. Well lunch might be an overstatement. It was a wiener and a soda. Too bad Lou was pissed at him. He was dying for one of her deli sandwiches. But she'd surely spit on it. That kinda limited their lunch options within the courtyard. Anything except for wieners and they had to drive. He fought the urge to run. After all, he had to maintain some level of dignity. But it wouldn't be undignified to walk fast… so he picked up his pace.

As usual, Sarah's smile lit up the already bright room as soon as she saw him. "Hi," she said.

Okay, so maybe she wasn't a great conversationalist. But the loving kiss more than made up for it. "Hi, yourself," Chuck said. He put his arms around Sarah's waist and squeezed. "I really missed you."

Sarah laughed. "It's only been four hours since we were in the shower together," she teased. "But I know just what you mean. I missed you too. It's great isn't it?"

Maybe the Orange Orange was starting to grow on him. "I can't tell you how sexy you look in that uniform," Chuck said. "Do you think we could sneak back to your place for a minute? I'm not really all that hungry." Of course, he was teasing. Sex wouldn't be remotely possible for a while… even with a goddess. Before now, he would have bet a lot of money that five times in one day was impossible.

Sarah knew he was teasing… about going back to the room. Her place was too far away for lunch. If they wanted a quickie, it would have to be in Castle. Under current circumstances, that wouldn't be smart. "Down boy," she teased. "As much as I admire your enthusiasm, I think I may have created a monster here. I'd love nothing better but we don't have time. We'll have to wait until after work. We have a few minutes before we have to be at Casey's."

"Okay," Chuck sighed, thankful that she hadn't called his bluff. At least he would have some time to recover.

Sarah looked at him for a long moment. "Damn you," she teased. "Now you've got me thinking about it. How am I going to work all afternoon? Look at me. The teenage boys are going to be all over me today."

It was a miracle. One look at her chest poking through and he was suddenly recovered. Now he knew exactly how the boys felt. "Tell me about it," Chuck replied with a grin. "I don't have any teenage admirers, but I think I put about five hard drives in one computer."

Sarah's smile turned evil. "I think I know how that computer feels," she said. "The drives were very hard. If it's like me, it can't wait for the sixth… um… hard drive… very hard."

What was it about her that got him so fired up? Now this was serious. Chuck shook his head. "Okay," he grumbled. "This is cruel. You either need to stop saying those things to me or take me home and do something about it."

"Sorry," Sarah giggled. Of course, she didn't look in the least bit sorry. "We can wait, I guess."

"There is actually something serious I need to talk to you about," Chuck said.

The tone of his voice got Sarah's attention. "Okay," she said. "I'm listening."

Chuck hesitated. He didn't want this to come out badly. And it wasn't anything that she didn't already know. He just wanted it on record. "About last night," he said as he grabbed Sarah's hand. "You called Beckman and changed the terms of the mission last night. I get why. We have a… um, I guess you'd call it a rule. I can't get jealous on missions. Sarah, I don't want it to seem like I'm just obeying a rule. I want to make sure you understand how I feel about you using your… umm, your assets on a mission. I get that's a huge part of your training. You're an incredibly beautiful woman and making men lust after you leads them to make mistakes. I would never want you to feel that your hands were tied behind your back because of me. So this isn't me following any rule. This is what I honestly feel. I don't want you to not do the things you need to do because you're worried about how I feel. Now don't misunderstand, I still think there's a line that nobody should expect you to cross. I just want you to be safe. I really don't care if you come home with a couple of extra fingerprints or show some guy who isn't going to survive the night some skin. Just come home, okay?"

Sarah nodded. How sweet was that? He wasn't fooling anyone. That was hard for him. It would be hard for anyone… but he also meant every word. How could you not love him? "Okay," she said. "That means a lot to me. Thank you for understanding."

Chuck laughed. "At least, now you'll be able to work this afternoon," he said. "I think I've effectively put out the fire."

Sarah shook her head. "Trust me on something," she said. "You didn't put out anything. In fact, you just poured gas on that fire. The teenagers will be talking about this day for months."

Indeed, her high beams were suddenly extra visible. "The boys are in for a treat," he teased. "Does this always happen to you?"

Sarah shook her head. "Only when it's you," she said. "Make sure you come over and pick me up as soon as you can after work. We'll work on identifying your fingerprints as soon as we get home. I'll show you some skin and maybe someday soon, you can tie my hands behind my back. That might be interesting."

"Come on," Chuck whined. "Now you're just being cruel."

Sarah couldn't keep the laugh in. She had intentionally calmed down the daily goodbye kiss after that first day. But it was far too late to avoid being on fire all this afternoon anyway. So she went for it. She put her hands behind his head and pulled him in. Her lips crashed into his and probed for his tongue. It didn't take much probing before their tongues were dancing for a long moment. Finally the kiss broke.

"Sarah," Chuck whispered as he could feel the red creeping up his face. "People are watching us."

Sarah knew that he wasn't comfortable with PDA. Normally, she'd try and keep it behind closed doors to keep from embarrassing him. Today she just couldn't help it. "Remember," Sarah whispered back.

"As soon as you can."

x-x-x-x-x

If Chuck thought that the morning moved slowly, the afternoon was twice as long. It didn't help that Jeff and Lester saw the goodbye kiss and started inventing ways to have fun at Chuck's expense. Their latest tactic was to give Chuck a standing ovation every time he entered a room. Anna said that it was the hottest thing she had ever seen. Even Big Mike tried to get Chuck to move it to in front of the Buy More. He reasoned that it would be good for attracting traffic to the store.

About mid afternoon, Chuck walked up to Casey. "I need to talk to you," he said.

Casey was still stinging from his defeat this morning. "Chuck," he growled. "I told you that I don't want to hear any more scrabble stories."

Chuck couldn't help but smile. "No," he said. "Nothing like that. I just wanted you to know that Bryce visited us last night at Sarah's place."

That got Casey's attention. "Larkin was there?" he asked in surprise. "What did he want? Besides the obvious?"

Chuck considered how honest to be. The truth was that Casey was right. Bryce wanted a lot more than just the mission related things. And it would be nice to have someone to talk to about it. But Casey probably wasn't the best choice. That would just give him too much ammunition to take shots. So it would probably be best to stick to spy matters. "A lot," Chuck replied. "He wanted Sarah to try and infiltrate the Fulcrum organization for a longer period. He wanted her to get inside so she could feed us as much knowledge of the organization as possible. He said that was the only way to nail them."

Casey shook his head. "That would be suicide," he said softly, mostly to himself. "These Fulcrum guys aren't stupid. Sarah will be lucky to fool them for a few minutes tonight. No way would she be able to fool them once they start checking up on her. Even worse, it would lead them to you. Please tell me that she's not going to do it."

"She was thinking about it," Chuck replied. "Bryce told her that it was her duty and you know what that means to Sarah. I had to talk a long time but I think I convinced her to stick with the original plan."

"Larkin's a dick," Casey growled. "Next time I shoot him, it's going to be in the head. Do you want me to talk to her?"

Chuck was relieved that Casey would agree with him on the risks. "I'd appreciate it," he replied. "She's feeling pretty guilty. She stills feels like it's her duty. It would help her if you could let her know she's making the right decision. It would mean a lot coming from you. You know what she's going through and she respects you."

Now Casey was suspecting that Chuck was going to take another shot. "She respects me?" he asked incredulously. "Very funny."

Chuck just smiled. "Now don't be getting all misty eyed," he said. "I said that she respects you."

"Not that she likes you."

x-x-x-x-x

The instant that the clock struck quitting time, Chuck sprung towards the door. He sprinted across the courtyard to where Sarah was waiting. After all, dignity was overrated.

Sarah was grinning from ear to ear as she watched Chuck running towards her. He barely broke stride as he grabbed her hand and headed towards the Nerd Herder. About half way home Chuck regretted that he had driven. "We'd be home by now if we had taken the Porsche," he moaned.

Sarah was having far too of a time watching his eagerness. Usually, it was her that was dragging them towards the bed. "Chuck," she teased. "You've already run two red lights. Please be careful. Passion is no good when you're dead.

Chuck thought about teasing her about warning him. He'd seen her drive. When she was in a hurry, public safety wasn't much of a consideration. "We've got about forty five minutes before we have to leave for Casey's," he explained. "I'm hoping to get in two games of scrabble."

"Scrabble?" Sarah questioned, still grinning.

"Sorry," Chuck said.

"It's an inside joke."

x-x-x-x-x

It was amazing. Even though they were headed for their most dangerous life and death type mission, it was a much calmer Intersect and his handler that drove to Casey's apartment. As it turned out, they only had time for one game of scrabble… but it went into overtime. They were really getting good at this. "Wow," Chuck sighed. "That was incredible."

Sarah could only nod her head in agreement. She didn't even have anything in her life to compare it to. She had stopped trying to figure out why they clicked so well in bed. "I'd say it was way beyond incredible," she sighed.

As they approached Casey's, Sarah turned to Chuck. "Sweetie," she said. "I'm sorry to have to end this glow. But it's time I got myself into mission mode so that I don't get killed tonight. Do you understand?"

"Absolutely," Chuck replied seriously.

"Before I do," Sarah said. "I want to tell you something. Things don't always go as planned on a mission. Even if you hear something that surprises you tonight, don't worry. I know what I'm doing and I won't let you down. Trust me?"

"Without hesitation," Chuck said. "What are my orders, Agent Walker?"

Sarah smiled at him. "Three things," she said. "Listen to Casey, stay safe, and be there when we're done. Okay?"

"Understood," Chuck said. "And Agent Walker?"

"Yes?" Sarah asked.

"I just want to tell you that you have no reason to worry about me tonight," Chuck said softly. "And if you see Sarah sometime tonight, please let her know that she shouldn't worry about me either. And, if it comes up, please tell her that I love her and I can't wait to see her again."

Sarah knew that it wasn't the time to get emotional. So she blinked the tears away. "I'm pretty sure she already knows but I'll be sure to tell her," she said.

"She's a lucky girl."

x-x-x-x-x

They arrived at Casey's just as the conference was beginning. Casey and Bryce were standing in front of the screen waiting for everyone to arrive. When Chuck noticed Bryce, his heart sank. He immediately looked to see Sarah's reaction. He didn't expect to see any… and he didn't. She was definitely in agent mode. Even he couldn't read the expression on her face.

As always, Beckman took charge. "Okay people," she said. "Let's make this short. We've got a lot to do and very little time to do it. Agent Walker?"

"Yes, ma'am," Sarah responded.

"I understand from our earlier phone conversation that you want to alter tonight's planned mission slightly. Is that still your intent?"

Chuck looked up and saw Bryce's smile. It was the smile of victory. He had won. Suddenly Chuck understood his real motive. Is she did this, she'd be gone for months. When she got back… if she ever did… she would be different. If he couldn't have her, nobody would.

"Yes, ma'am," Sarah answered.

"Okay. I agree," Beckman said. "It's a risk, but getting Walker into that meeting with a wire will be huge. Proceed as we discussed. Major Casey, you will take the Intersect with you and tail Agent Walker. Once you have identified the meeting location, you will notify Agent Larkin. Agent Larkin will dispatch our strike force to that location. Major Casey, while our strike force is in route, you and the Intersect will attempt to identify any Fulcrum agents in the vicinity. This is the time where Agent Walker will be in the most jeopardy with very little backup. Once Agent Walker is clear, we'll move in. Major Casey, you'll need to stay in the vicinity until the strike force has neutralized the location. We need to have the Intersect available to identify any Fulcrum agents trying to escape. That may take some time. Agent Walker will be on her own until you are able to leave the scene and find her. At that point, you can assist her in detaining Jim Smith." Beckman paused to make sure everyone understood. "Any questions? Good. Well you have your orders. I don't have to tell you how much is on the line tonight. Good luck everyone."

Bryce's look of victory had turned completely around. "Sarah," he said. "I've never been more disappointed. I never thought you'd be the one to shirk your duty."

Chuck was seeing nothing but red. This crap had to stop. But when he took a step towards Bryce he felt Casey's hand on his shoulder pulling him back.

Casey stepped up to Bryce and threw an overhand right that would have knocked down an elephant. The punch landed directly on Bryce's nose. Bryce fell to the floor in a heap, blood flowing from the obviously broken nose.

Casey towered over Bryce as he lay bleeding. "Larkin, if you ever talk to my partner that way again," he growled.

"There won't be enough left of you for an autopsy."

x-x-x-x-x


	10. The Fall of Fulcrum

_I don't own Chuck. Actually, I don't own much of anything._

 _This is not new content. In fact, it is almost ten years old._

 _Look, I get that interest in things Chuck has waned. That's as it should be. So, while I'd always love to hear from you, I'm not doing this for hits or reviews. I'm doing this for me. Hopefully you can enjoy it as well._

 **The Fall of Fulcrum**

x-x-x-x-x

The much anticipated mission to capture a Fulcrum Elder was underway. Chuck and Casey were in Casey's Crown Vic following Sarah's Porsche from a safe distance. Casey had the audio from Sarah's wire patched into the car radio meaning they could both hear what was going on.

Casey turned to Chuck. "Why are you so jumpy?" he snapped. "Would you settle down? You're making me nervous."

"I'm worried about Sarah," Chuck admitted. "I hope this works. Without a wire, she's going to be completely on her own. We'll have no way to know what is happening. I also didn't realize that she was going to be on her own with Jim Smith until we can get there."

"Don't worry about Walker," Casey replied. "The wire is the main issue. I hope this works too. I have to say, it's a long shot. Smith is a non-issue. She can handle him and be bored doing it. Worst case, she'll just have to play a little scrabble."

Casey smiled as he saw the look on Chuck's face. "Come on Bartowski," he teased. "It's only going to be an hour… or two. They're only going to have time for two games of scrabble. Three tops. You said yourself that she's very good at it. I'm not sure how good of a player Smith is. Maybe she'll have to do most of the work for a few games."

Casey was clearly enjoying his revenge. "You know," he continued. "I was sort of pissed that you went on and on today about how good a scrabble player Walker is. But now that I know, it makes me feel a lot better about the mission. A lot better. Thank you for that." He looked at Chuck's face.

Yup, it never got old.

x-x-x-x-x

"Show time," Sarah said as she parked the car, knowing that the guys would hear her over the wire.

Chuck turned to Casey and smiled.

Casey could only shake his head sadly. "Yes," he growled. "I know. Show time. It's an expression we use. Get over it."

Sarah knocked on the door of their hotel room. After a moment, Smith answered the door. "Sarah?" he asked in a shocked whisper. "I thought we were going to meet outside?"

Sarah fought the urge to laugh at the look of shock on his face. She turned on her megawatt smile. It was time to get this guy to turn off his brain. "Well, Jim," she said. "There's been a slight change in plans. Can I come in?"

Carina was standing there waiting. "Hi, Blondie," she said with her own megawatt smile. "I've been expecting you. Are we ready to do this?"

Smith looked anxiously between the two smiling faces. Something was up. He just wasn't sure what exactly. He was clearly confused. "What's going on?" he asked.

"Don't worry, Jim," Sarah said calmly. "Carina knows about tonight."

This was not good. Smith maybe didn't know Carina all that well… they had only been together for a few weeks… but so overtly planning on cheating on her with her best friend couldn't be something she'd take well. "She knows?" he asked with a gulp. "Are… are you pissed? I can explain."

Pissed didn't even come close. Carina was a hothead to begin with. Her partner turning out to be a traitor was enough to set her over the edge. The fact that it had the brass questioning her own loyalty, putting her stellar career in jeopardy, only served to double down on her fury. Her new hookup attempting to cheat on her behind her back only piled on. Good luck explaining that. The competitive thing of losing a man to Sarah was also in there someplace. Sarah had to do some serious talking last night to keep her from shooting him and claiming it was an accident. It wouldn't be the first time.

But actually, this turned into a great opportunity. They all knew that there was no way for Sarah to get into a meeting with a Fulcrum Elder wearing a wire. It would be foolish to try. These guys weren't stupid. If they had followed the original plan, standard procedure dictated that, at a minimum, she'd get strip searched. If they found a wire… there would be no way to explain it. Things could get very messy. There was only one way… if they thought that she had already been searched. And that's where Carina came in.

"Relax, Jim," Sarah said with a smile. "Everything's great. I just don't think you understand how close Carina and I are. We were recruited together. We went through training together. We were partners for years. We decided that if I'm going to join your organization, then Carina will too."

Carina grinned as she stepped over to Sarah and put her arms around her waist. "Tell him the good part," she said. "Being deep undercover is very lonely. We learned that there are other things we like to do together too."

Sarah had to bite her lip to keep from laughing at the look on his face. "That's right, Jim," she said as she leaned over and kissed Carina's forehead. "We do things together all the time. There are certain things that a woman simply does better. We have gotten very good at it."

Carina set the hook. "We want to go to the meeting together," she said. "We want to join your organization together. And then we want to come back here and give you everything that you deserve together."

"You'd like that Jim?" Sarah asked in her most seductive voice. "Wouldn't you?"

Smith wasn't sure that he wasn't being played. He nodded cautiously.

Carina went for the jugular. "We have to make sure she isn't wearing a wire," she said. "I think that standard operating procedure would be a strip search. It will save time when we get there if you've already performed it. Don't you agree?"

One thing that Sarah had to give Carina. The girl was an expert in taking people's clothes off. Sarah never even felt her zipped being lowered. But her dress was suddenly pooled on the floor. One thing was for sure, there was no place to hide a wire. At least her high beams weren't on. That was a Chuck only thing. "Wait a minute," she said. "Carina might be wearing a wire too. She also needs to be searched." Sarah maybe wasn't as experienced in these things as Carina was, but she quickly enough had her friend's dress similarly pooled at her feet. "Any questions?"

Carina turned to Smith. "Isn't she beautiful?" she asked. "You're in for a real treat tonight. She's a tiger in these situations. I can't wait to get back here and get started. Can we get going?"

Smith found himself looking at two of the most beautiful women in the world, standing there in only stockings and heels. They both did a slow turn to give him the full view. Certainly there was no wire anyplace… just lots of skin. "Wow," he said as he looked back and forth between Sarah and Carina. "Hell yes. Let's get going."

Inside the car, Casey and Chuck were roaring with laughter. "That poor bastard," Casey said as he wiped the tears from his eyes. "He thinks that he died and went to heaven. He doesn't have a clue that they're palming each other's wires. If he's lucky tonight, he'll get killed. Lord help him if those two get him back in that room later. If I get a clean shot tonight, I just might put him out of his misery."

Chuck was laughing hard. Sarah had warned him last night that something like this was going to happen. Okay, this creep was seeing her naked. That was a view that, hopefully sometime in the future, would be reserved only for him. But he had to admit, it was very effective. Smith's thoughts were now consumed with getting a closer look. Sarah wasn't bashful about men seeing her without clothes, in fact she seemed to enjoy the power it brought. If this was the worst thing that happened tonight, he'd be lucky. And he knew Sarah well enough to know that she would make sure that he paid dearly for the view… soon. "Casey," he said.

"I'm not big on seeing anybody suffer. But this I have to see."

x-x-x-x-x

Casey and Chuck again followed the Porsche from a safe distance. There was no need to get close since they were tracking the GPS signal in her car. While they watched, the Porsche stopped and parked in front of a three story commercial office building. They couldn't help but notice that the parking lot was surprising full for this time of night. Casey parked the car on the other side of the parking lot in a spot that afforded a strategic view of the main and side entrances. By the time they were in position, Sarah, Carina, and Smith had already entered the building.

Casey and Chuck were listening to Sarah's wire while Casey phoned in the location. For some time there had been nothing but small talk. The plan had hit pay dirt. Smith's boasting assurance that they had already been strip searched got them out of a repeat.

Suddenly came a man's voice. "Mr. Jones will see you now."

"Carina Miller, Sarah Walker, I'd like you to meet Steve Jones," Smith said.

As soon as heard the name, Chuck flashed. "Casey," he said. "Steve Jones is the Fulcrum Elder. He is also a two star general."

Casey looked at Chuck sadly. "The Intersect is a wonderful thing," he said. "But I don't need it to tell you about General Jones. I served under him in 1993. He was the commanding officer of the air base I was assigned to. I would have never figured him to be Fulcrum. This is very bad news. It explains a lot. Fulcrum has contacts very high in the military. That's why they always know everything about our plans."

Chuck couldn't keep the concern from his voice. "Do they know about Sarah?" he asked. "She is a sitting duck."

Casey was already on the horn with Beckman. He covered his mic for a second. "I don't think so," he replied. "There are only a handful of people who know about the Intersect project. Jones isn't that high up the food chain. If they knew about you, they would have grabbed you months ago. The problem is, if they checked up on Walker. Why is such a top agent on what looks like such a nothing assignment? We don't want them asking themselves that."

At least Jones appeared friendly. "Sarah Walker, no kidding?" he said as he shook Sarah's hand. "Carina, Sarah, it's very nice to meet you. Mr. Smith, will you please wait outside while I talk with these lovely ladies?"

It wasn't really a request. "Yes, sir," Smith said and left the room.

Sarah and Carina were sitting in a room across the desk from a known Fulcrum Elder.

x-x-x-x-x

As soon as they had pulled into the parking lot, Casey and Chuck began to notice activity. Cars were coming and going far too frequently for an office building at this time of the night. Chuck finally got a good look at one of the men walking into the building. He immediately flashed." "Casey," he said after the flash was over. "That guy is Fulcrum."

Then another flash hit Chuck. Then another, and another, and another. They were coming so frequently that Casey was becoming concerned. "Are you okay?" he asked. "Stop looking at them."

Chuck wasn't okay. But it had nothing to do with the effects of flashing. "These guys are all Fulcrum," he said. "I just counted twelve of them enter that building in the last five minutes. This isn't just a meeting place. This must be headquarters. Sarah is in big trouble. We have to go get her."

Casey knew that he had to calm him down. "Relax," he said. "Our backup is in route. I'll call in the cavalry."

Casey had an open link to both Beckman and Larkin. He keyed his mic.

"General, we have a situation."

x-x-x-x-x

As soon as Smith left the room, Sarah turned her megawatt smile towards Jones. Her mind was racing. This guy knowing her name was very bad news. There was only one way to play that. A denial would be pointless… and probably fatal. Her only hope was that he hadn't actually looked at her file recently. The good news was that it was sealed. Fortunately, Chuck had, well, not taught her how to play dumb. She already knew the technique. But he had reinforced it lately. "Have you heard of me?" she asked.

Jones laughed out loud. "You're kidding, right?" he asked. "The famous Sarah Walker? I'm sure that almost everyone in the intelligence community has heard of you. And Agent Miller, you've also had a fine career. You're both more beautiful than I'd been told, and that's saying something. I'm looking forward to seeing more of you."

The double entendre was pretty predictable. Surely he was already planning on seeing much more of them, maybe yet tonight. Sarah's spy instincts were ringing off the charts. But there was only one way to play this. "Thank you, sir," she replied. "That is most flattering. I think I can speak for Agent Miller when I say that we're also looking forward to you seeing more of us." Two could play the double entendre game. So overtly flirting with this guy might backfire. It might get him aggressive. If he wanted to see more of them right here in his office, they weren't in any position to refuse. They would have to be very careful to hide each other's wires just like they had done with Smith earlier. But it was a risk that she felt was worth it. "This is a great honor for us."

Jones got more serious. "Let's put some cards on the table," he said. "Agent Walker, you're perhaps the very last agent I would expect to be sitting here. Why would you want to join Fulcrum?"

This was rapidly getting serious. Flirting aside, his admitting that he was Fulcrum had just crossed a Rubicon. It was now either sell this to him, or they wouldn't be leaving… at least not alive. She didn't know what specifics he knew about her career or what Smith had told him. Those stories didn't exactly mesh. No matter what happened, she couldn't draw any attention to Chuck. "First," Sarah began. "Maybe I was famous once. But in this business, famous people make enemies. Sometimes, those enemies become management. My career hasn't gone so well lately."

"So I've heard," Jones said. "It's sad that they would throw away such a talent."

Sarah breathed a silent sigh of relief. He had obviously talked to Smith. Her bluff had worked. He bought it. "It is," she agreed. "If you know about me, you must know that I'm insanely intense. I've had this growing feeling for a long time that we're heading in the wrong direction. That's getting unbearable."

Carina stepped in for support. "We've talked about this for hours upon hours," she said. "Sir, I'm not going to try and deceive you. This was a tough decision for us. We didn't make it lightly. But the fact is that we've lost our edge. We're letting politicians drive us into the ground. The United States is the only superpower and yet we don't act like it. We play second fiddle to pussy organizations like NATO and the United Nations. We finally decided that it was time that we got on the right side of that battle."

Jones was plainly impressed. "I agree completely," he said. "You said that very well. What would you be willing to do for Fulcrum?"

It was time to ratchet up the flirting again. "Sir," Sarah said. "We've always done anything that was required to fulfill a mission. Assigning those missions is above our pay grade. We never question orders. Our job is to do what we're told, right, Carina?"

"Yes, sir," Carina agreed. "Anything."

Jones's grin turned predatory. "And you wouldn't mind proving that?" he asked.

Sarah again breathed a silent sigh of relief. He had just snatched up the bait. For the first time, she felt like she had the upper hand. "Of course, sir," she said snappily. "You're right to be skeptical. We always knew that we would have to prove ourselves. Try us."

"I'm going to do just that," Jones said. "We have a very important contact. He supplies us with heroin from Afghanistan. We use the profits from the sale of this product to fund our activities worldwide. We need to keep an eye on this contact. We also need to keep him happy. I'm sure that the two of you can keep him very, very happy. Would you accept this assignment?"

Sarah grinned. How predictable was that? At least he wasn't going to insist that they get naked here in his office… not yet anyway. Fucking some mark into submission was a common test with these men. It was doubtful that this guy was as he represented, probably some underling who he was rewarding… but it did jive with what Chuck's flash told him about Smith. Jones probably wasn't convinced yet, but it really didn't matter. Once they were out of this building alive, this was over. Maybe ratchet up the flirting another notch. It couldn't hurt, right? So she leaned forward and followed his eyes. She made no attempt to hide that she was giving him a look down her dress at the impressive cleavage on display, and he made no attempt to hide that he was taking full advantage. "Thank you so much for the opportunity, sir," Sarah said. "This is something that we're very good at. We won't let you or the contact down."

Jones smiled. "Report back here tomorrow at oh eight hundred," he said. "Smith will go with you. You're not to leave his sight until you return. Be prepared to be gone for as long as a month or two. Pack evening wear and anything else you'll need to make this man happy. You'll receive the full briefing tomorrow. Any questions?"

"No, sir," Sarah and Carina replied together.

"You're dismissed."

x-x-x-x-x

When they left the office, Smith was waiting for them. "How did it go?" he asked anxiously.

Sarah grinned at him. This was still a tense situation, but it was also almost over. "Perfectly," she said. "We have to report back here tomorrow morning ready to leave on an assignment. We're not to leave your sight until then."

Carina threw a log on the fire. "Jim," she said. "As long as we can't leave your sight anyway, let's take advantage. I hope you're ready for a wild night. We made a promise. It's time to take you home and get you what you deserve."

Smith made zero effort to hide his anticipation. He practically dragged Sarah and Carina to the car. As soon as Sarah had the car out of sight, Bryce's task force sprang into action. They quickly surrounded the building with an overwhelming force. Then with amazing precision they entered and began rounding up prisoners. As instructed, Casey and Chuck waited in the car and watched for possible escapees. Fortunately, the task force was very efficient and they didn't see anyone. Except for some random gunshots from agents who wouldn't be taken alive, the building was calm.

This was officially over.

x-x-x-x-x

As soon as they were back in the hotel room, Smith started rubbing his hands. "I can't wait for this," he exclaimed.

Sarah exchanged a knowing grin with Carina. The bulge in his pants said very plainly that he wasn't lying. "We've been looking forward to this too," she said.

Carina was forced to agree with her friend. "Just as much as you have," she added.

Sarah decided to have a little sport. "What do you want to do first?" she asked as she placed her head on Carina's shoulder.

Smith really didn't know what to say. There were so many wonderful choices. "Why don't you surprise me?" he asked lustfully.

That got the girls laughing out loud. "That sounds like a good idea," Carina said as she landed her favorite fighting move, a vicious kick to his groin. "Surprised?"

"I really hope that you like surprises," Sarah agreed. She delivered her own roundhouse kick to the side of Smith's head.

Smith fell to his knees and then prone on the floor.

Carina stepped up to the semi-conscious heap. "Congratulations," she said. "Now you've had us both together. I told you that she was a tiger in these situations. You can boast all about it to everyone in prison. Too bad, I doubt they will be impressed. You just got everything you deserved… just like we promised."

Sarah, not very gently, jerked his hands behind his back and slapped on the cuffs. "Well, Jim," she said. "Was it good for you?"

Carina turned to her friend and they both started laughing. "I love that kick," she said. "It's new, isn't it?"

"Thanks," Sarah replied. "It's pretty new. Seems like I've been using it a lot lately."

Carina went to the cupboard and brought out a bottle of wine and two glasses. Ever since the CAT days, it had been a tradition that they celebrate a successful mission with a toast.

Just as they were setting down their glasses, Casey and Chuck burst into the room. "Agent Walker," Chuck teased. "It's good to see you safe."

Normally, Sarah would have been more reserved in front of Casey. But this wasn't the time to be reserved. She threw her arms around Chuck. "I'm not Agent Walker," she protested. "She had to leave. I just look like her. My name is Sarah."

Chuck wrapped his arms around Sarah and held her tight. "Hi, Sarah," he said. "I've been worried about you."

Sarah turned to Casey. "How was our asset tonight?" she teased. "Any issues?"

Casey was in far too good of a mood to be snarky, even seeing them so overtly getting overly friendly. "Not really," he replied. "He would let out the occasional jealous sob. He was as annoying as usual. But, other than that, no complaints. Let's wrap this up and get out of here."

"I have a feeling that Beckman is going to be pleased."

x-x-x-x-x


	11. Welcome Home

_I don't own Chuck. Actually, I don't own much of anything._

 _This is not new content. In fact, it is almost ten years old._

 _Look, I get that interest in things Chuck has waned. That's as it should be. So, while I'd always love to hear from you, I'm not doing this for hits or reviews. I'm doing this for me. Hopefully you can enjoy it as well._

 **Welcome Home**

x-x-x-x-x

The debriefing was more like a party than a meeting. Beckman was indeed, very happy. She was practically yelling. "Congratulations to everyone," she said. "This has been an incredible night. I just got off the phone with Agent Larkin who is directing the cleanup. All in all, we captured fifty three Fulcrum agents, including the Elder, General Smith. We killed four others. We suffered a couple of minor injuries. The most serious was that Agent Larkin apparently suffered a broken nose in the battle. We also captured dozens of computers and reams of paper files. Our analysts are just beginning to sift through the information. It's going to take months to get through everything but we've seen enough to be confident that it is going to lead us to other Fulcrum facilities across the country. I think we can safely say that Fulcrum has been eliminated on the west coast. I've never imagined such an effective team. You're becoming so productive that we're going to need to figure out a way to give you some time off. Maybe we can arrange for a trip somewhere nice. You've certainly earned it. Now go someplace and have a drink. If there's nothing else…"

"Excuse me, ma'am," Sarah interrupted. "I have something additional to report."

Beckman was clearly surprised. "Go on, Agent Walker," she said.

Sarah took a deep breath and grabbed Chuck's hand. "I'm very sorry to have to say this," she started hesitantly. "But I feel it is my duty to report that I have become compromised. I'm afraid that I have fallen in love with my asset. I understand that this is a serious protocol violation and is incredibly unprofessional on my part. I just thought you should know."

Beckman was silent for a long moment. She clearly wasn't expecting anything like this. "Agent Walker," she finally said. "This is most disappointing. What do you feel we should do about it?"

Sarah considered the question. At least Beckman was giving her a chance to make her case. That was a good sign. "My hope," she began. "Is that you'll leave me in my current assignment until that becomes no longer necessary. We've proven that we're a very strong team. It would be a shame to break us up. General, perhaps my priorities have changed, he's no longer my asset, but I can promise you that nobody will be more vigilant in protecting Chuck than I will be."

Finally Graham spoke up. "Agent Walker," he said. "Surely you understand normal protocol in this type of situation. What if we decide to reassign you?"

It was time to lay everything on the line. "Mr. Director, General," she said. "I've always been proud of serving my country. I've done it to the best of my ability. I really don't want to stop now. But, I'm afraid; this will be my last official assignment. It's just a question of if it ends tonight or sometime in the future. Respectfully, I fully intend to stay here protecting my fiancé no matter what you decide. If his status changes, I'm pretty insistent that I accompany him. In fact any attempt to separate us will be vigorously opposed. Hopefully, we can resolve that amicably."

Beckman was again silent for a moment. When Agent Walker used that tone, this was serious. There was going to be no talking her out of it. She had chosen her words carefully to stop just short of making a direct threat, but there was no question of her intent. If Bartowski was to go underground, she was demanding to go with him. When Agent Walker demanded something, you took her seriously. She normally followed orders without question, but she was also a warrior. If they pushed her, this would get very bloody. "Major Casey," she asked. "What is your opinion of this situation?"

Sarah turned to Casey. It wasn't fair to put him on the spot like this. "Would you like Chuck and me to wait outside while you answer?" she asked.

Casey didn't hesitate. "No," he answered. "That's okay. You need to hear this. General, frankly my preference would be to have a team that didn't have any personal baggage. But having said that, I can't imagine a stronger team or a better partner than Agent Walker. As you know, I've never been a strong team player. I'm more comfortable on my own. But it's obvious to everybody that we have a secret weapon. Agent Walker is key in making it effective. We've accomplished more in the past year than both Agent Walker and I combined for the past ten. And on a personal level, I have to admit, I'm enjoying it more. I would respectfully request that you leave the team intact."

"Agent Walker," Beckman said sternly. "You're the very last agent that I ever expected to be having this discussion with. I am very disappointed in your lack of professionalism. We have rules in place for a reason. You just violated a very basic one. For me to pretend that it doesn't matter would be wrong."

Beckman just glared at them through the monitor for a long moment. Finally her face relaxed. It wasn't exactly a smile, but it was no longer angry. "However," she continued. "There is no questioning your success. This is the most effective team we've ever had… by an order of magnitude. That has to count for something. We're going to monitor the situation closely but I see no compelling reason to act at this time. We'll leave your team in place. I think it just because more important than ever that we get you that trip and some time off. Any questions?"

"No, ma'am," Sarah said.

"No, ma'am," Casey agreed.

"Dismissed," Beckman said as the screen finally went mercifully blank.

As soon as the screen went blank, Sarah made no effort to hide her relief. This outcome had been far from being assured. She had just taken a huge risk. And if they had decided to make a point and push it, she would have had a serious fight on her hands… one that she might not win. She turned to Casey and threw her arms around him… for probably the first and last time. "Thank you," she said. "That could have gone badly. Your support made the difference."

Probably the last thing that Casey wanted was to have Sarah hugging him. "You'd better be careful," he said as he removed her arms. "Your boyfriend is watching us. You know how jealous he gets."

That got all three of them laughing. "I'm pretty sure that he'll make an exception this once," she said. "My place is too far. We're going to head over to Chuck's and talk. Do you think we could have some privacy?"

Casey reached up on the panel and flipped a switch. "The bugs are off for tonight," he said. "Have fun."

Sarah stepped up to Carina. "Carina," she teased. "Don't let it bother you that your guy chose to hit on me. It happens. It's called karma."

That got everyone laughing. "Very funny," Carina said. "You're seriously not suggesting that we start keeping score?"

Sarah shook her head. "Let's not go there," she suggested. Then she got more serious and threw her arms around her friend. "Thanks for being there. I'm thinking that we'll have some serious things to talk about next time we get together… like maybe bridesmaid dresses."

Carina returned her embrace. "Anytime," she said. "Hopefully next time we talk it'll be me that has some news for you. We are still competitive you know?" She turned to Chuck. "Take care of her. She's counting on you. Don't forget to double down on the tongue thing. She'll never ask, but it's very important to her."

That got the room laughing. Sarah playfully slapped Carina on the arm. "Will you please stop trying to embarrass us?" she asked. She turned to Chuck. "That's not to say that she's wrong," she teased. "She's not wrong. It is… amazing."

As they were all laughing, Sarah took Chuck's hand and led him out of the room. As soon as the door closed, Carina turned to Casey. "Casey," she said. "I know that you're pissed at me about the handcuffing you to the bed thing. I'm sorry. I have that coming. It was just a joke. I'm not trying to say that we have something beyond physical attraction. I don't know yet. And I'm not expecting you to say it either. But do you think we could hang out tonight? Maybe I could apologize in a more physical way."

That got Casey laughing. "Carina," he said. "If I end up tonight handcuffed to my bed tonight, I'm never going to forgive you."

Carina smiled as she handed Casey her cuffs. "Here," she said. "Take away my temptation."

"Maybe sometime tonight you can get your payback."

x-x-x-x-x

Chuck and Sarah walked silently to Ellie's apartment hand in hand. Fortunately, they had the place to themselves. Both Ellie and Devon were working the late shift. As soon as they were in Chuck's room, he grabbed her. "You told me not to worry about Bryce ratting us out. I didn't expect you to rat us out," he said. "You just gave up so much for me. Thank you."

Sarah shook her head. Chuck had been so wonderful making this work. She's the one who hadn't stepped up. She spent all this time worrying about her job. She spent a year living in fear… afraid that if she gave in to her feelings that it would affect her job… afraid that if she told him how much she loved him it would affect her job… afraid that his jealousy would affect her job… afraid that the brass finding out would affect her job. What she should have been worrying about is how her job affected him. "Chuck," she said softly. "Please don't thank me. I feel horrible enough as it is. I really didn't give up anything."

"But you gave up being a spy," Chuck protested. "I know how much you love that."

That actually got a smile. "What I love," she corrected. "Is you. That's a new thing for me. I'm not exactly sure how to handle it. Being a spy was right for me at the time. I don't regret a single second, even the bad parts. I'm proud of what I've done. The truth is, we still have some work to do. And even if we don't go looking for trouble, I hope that we're always going to be willing to sacrifice to do the right thing when it becomes necessary. There is still a lot of evil out there that has nothing to do with Fulcrum."

"Of course," Chuck agreed.

That got an even bigger smile. "I have a new job now," Sarah said. "One that I'm just as passionate about. First, let me get something off my chest. I want to tell you how sorry I am. I put a ridiculous amount of rules in place. You've been so great at making this work. You've been putting me first for a long time now, even when I was pushing you away and acting horribly. You taught me what love really is. I'm ashamed that I haven't been putting you first. This is not an excuse, but I've never been in love before. I discovered that it's simply wonderful. There is no way I could ever go back to the way it was before. It's time to go all in. I promise that you'll be first in every detail of my life from now on. You deserve to feel just as loved as I do. Starting right now, you're going to."

Chuck was still holding her tight. "You don't have to be sorry," he said. "I'm proud of you. You've come so far, so quickly. I can't tell you how great that makes me feel."

"You don't have to tell me," Sarah insisted. "I know exactly because I feel it too." They just stayed holding each other for a long time. "But don't misunderstand," she finally said. "This is still complicated. We won a huge victory tonight, but not a war. There are still huge problems to face before we can ever call ourselves normal. You may not be my asset any longer, but fiancés have responsibilities too. I still have to make sure that you're safe. That's my job and I'm serious about it… even more serious than I was yesterday. If you get in the way of that job, I'm still willing to kick your ass."

Chuck smiled. That was Sarah. She was only half teasing. "I'm going to be very careful to make sure that doesn't happen," he said.

That got them both laughing. "Good answer," Sarah said. "Because now that I'm in the real world, I don't have to kick your ass. I have a weapon that real women have been using since the Stone Age. I'll cut you off."

It was an empty threat… and they both knew it. "Wouldn't that cut you off too?" he asked.

Chuck had just called her bluff. "Hey," she protested. "I went without sex for well over a year. Do you really think I couldn't go without it for a while to protect the love of my life?"

Chuck didn't answer. He just grinned.

"Okay," Sarah finally admitted with sigh. "Probably not for very long. Are you happy?" Even that was a hedge. The fire that had started the second she saw him in Carina's room just a couple of hours ago was now burning out of control.

Chuck tried not to gloat. Well, he tried a little. But he failed miserably. "I'm happy." he answered. "I'll be even happier if this new change means that I get to ask more questions."

Sarah took a deep breath. He was only half teasing. Chuck had been fantastic about not pushing her. He knew that this would be the hardest part for her. But to her credit, she looked him directly in the eyes. "It absolutely means that," she said. "I'm not going to lie. That's going to be the hardest part for me. Some of the things that you want to know are painful for me. But you're first in every detail, in bed and out. You deserve that. Getting over my hang-ups and opening myself up to you is part of what putting you first means. I'll tell you anything that you want to know. Try me."

Chuck squeezed her tight. "I don't want this to be painful for you," he said. "We can ease into it. I'm dying to hear the real deal with you and Bryce. But I can wait until you're ready."

Sarah grinned. "Actually, Bryce isn't the painful part… for me anyway," she said. "I don't think that there really is a real deal with me and Bryce… at least one that you don't already understand. I get that you're always going to be a little jealous of him. I can tell you that you shouldn't be until I'm blue in the face. It's going to take time. So ask anything that helps you get over it."

Chuck didn't deny that he was jealous of Bryce. "I'm not trying to start anything," he said. "But I saw you kissing in my bedroom that time. It didn't look like two partners."

Sarah lost her grin. "I suppose not," she agreed. "Chuck, I'll not deny that this is complicated. Bryce was there for me at a low point in my life. I still have a fair amount of affection for him as a friend… when he isn't acting like an ass. He was a great spy… a great partner. I loved working with him. There was a time in my life when a great partner was enough. But that's all it ever was, for both of us. Bryce is pretending there was something more because his feelings are hurt and he doesn't like to lose. You know that we had a physical relationship. I'm not going to try and hide that, at the time, it was important to me. I was even the one who got things started a fair amount of the time. Being undercover can get very lonely and sex with Bryce was my one safe outlet. Surely you weren't expecting that I was a virgin, were you? You had a relationship with Jill that was far more serious than Bryce and I."

Chuck shook his head. She was misunderstanding him. They both had people in their past. So what? That didn't bother him at all. "Here's the difference," he insisted. "You weren't best friends with Jill. She doesn't show up in my bedroom at four in the morning looking for sex. I can't imagine you would take that well."

Sarah paused for a long moment. "You're right," she finally said. "On all counts. It is different… and I wouldn't take it well. It's completely my fault that Bryce had an unrealistic expectation. I've never had a chance to let him know that things have changed. The kiss you witnessed probably contributed to his expectation. I get that. I'm not trying to make excuses, but neither of you seem to realize how messed up I was then. I was feeling things that I knew were dangerous. I was confused… afraid. I was in love for the first time in my life and I didn't know what to do about it. I'm very sorry about all that. You heard me tell Bryce how wrong he was. This is part of what putting you first means. If there is anything else you want me to do to reinforce that, up to and including shooting him, just tell me what you want me to do."

Chuck squeezed her even tighter. "I'm not upset with you," he said. "I don't think that you've done anything wrong. I get that I'm being ridiculous. Yeah, I'm jealous of him. He's everything that I'm not. He always got the great girls."

"Maybe," Sarah agreed. "I agree that he is some things that you're not… shallow… arrogant… manipulative. He can walk into a random bar and quickly have a random woman ready to go home with him by flashing that smile. You probably can't do that. Somehow you think that's a bad thing. Chuck Bartowski, what am I going to do with you? How am I going to get you to start realizing that you have it all over him in every single important way? It's okay to be jealous of him… silly, but ultimately harmless. It's not okay to compare yourself to him and feel inferior. That's just plain wrong. I'm putting my foot down on that one. Maybe Bryce gets the great girls. I'm afraid that you're stuck with this, not so great one."

Chuck shook his head. "That's not true," he insisted. "When it comes to great girls, you're the grand prize. You're kinda a big fish. Sometimes I almost wish it was true. Then every man, including Bryce, from here to Jakarta wouldn't feel obligated to take a shot at bagging you. So thank you for your offer. That would really help me. When are you planning on shooting him?"

That broke the tension and got them both laughing. "You don't get it, do you?" Sarah asked. "You might not be able to walk into a bar and pick up the random hot girl. But you can always make me laugh. That's way more important. I'm the most loved woman in the world. None of Bryce's conquests can say that. In fact, they don't even understand what it means. Now that I understand what it means, it's the most important thing in my life. I could never give it up."

They just held each other for a long moment. After a couple of minutes Sarah stirred. "Will you do me a big favor?" she asked.

"Name it."

"Our little girl that we talked about last night," Sarah said softly. "She's all that I can think about. I really want her more than anything. We really need to make that happen."

Chuck kissed her. "It's going to happen," he said. "I won't let the Intersect cheat us out of that. I won't. I'm going to get it out of my head, and live the life I want with the girl that I love."

Sarah smiled. "That's nice," she said. "It would help me a lot more if you told me exactly how you were going to do that."

"Tell me about it," Chuck replied. "I wish I could."

"That girl you referred to," Sarah teased. "The one that you love and are going to spend your life with. That's me, right?"

Chuck took full measure of her teasing. "You're ready for this?" he asked. "This is a big change for you. You know there are some things that have to happen first?"

Was she ready? It was an excellent question… one that she didn't have a fully reasoned answer for yet. But she was confident in one thing. He'd make this easy for her. "Like what?" Sarah asked.

Chuck ticked off his points on his fingers. "Well, first we have to get married," he said. "Of course, I'll need a better job. That means I'll need to finish my degree. Oh, and we'll need to defeat Fulcrum and resolve this Intersect thing. I need to get very serious about that five year plan."

"Married?" Sarah asked. "You want to get married?"

Chuck was surprised at her protest. She had asked him to propose just this morning. "Don't you want to get married?" he asked. "I know that wasn't a very romantic proposal. I promise I'll do it again the right way soon but…"

"Chuck," Sarah interrupted. "I'm teasing you. We've been dating for ten days and you're proposing? What took you so long?"

Chuck grinned at her so blatantly making fun of him. That couldn't be allowed to stand. "Very funny," he said. "Well?"

Sarah was confused, and said so. "Well, what?"

"Come on, Sarah," Chuck lectured. "When someone asks you to marry them, it's only fair to respond… even after only ten days."

"Good point," Sarah said. "For the record… yes, I will marry you. I just think you need to condense that five year plan into something smaller… like say a nine month plan."

Chuck's eyes got wide at her reference. "Are you trying to tell me something?" he asked.

Sarah realized how he had heard her. "No. Oh no," she said. "I didn't mean that. I just picked nine months out of the air. I'm in a hurry, but I get that some things have to work out first. I think nine months is a good target."

"You do realize that the first one might come out a boy?" Chuck asked with a grin.

Sarah stood and considered the question. "We'll keep trying," she said. "You asked if I was ready. I'll be honest. This is all still a little scary for me. But I'm going to set that aside. Don't worry about me. When the time comes, I'll be ready. I want it too much."

"I want it too," Chuck replied as they kissed.

"I've never had a home," Sarah sighed. "Spies are taught to never put down roots. For the first time in my life, I feel like I have a home. I learned something about myself in the past ten days. You're my home, Chuck. You always have been."

Sarah had a tell when she was massively aroused. That, by itself, was unusual for a spy. She insisted that it wasn't true ten days ago. That was a nice thought. Chuck could currently feel her tell poking into his chest. He wasn't nearly as experienced as Carina at getting women naked. On balance, that was probably a good thing. This time, Sarah did feel her zipper. But the results were basically the same. Her dress was quickly pooled at her feet. Chuck looked at her chest knowingly. "I can see how turned on you get when I make the first move," he teased.

Sarah was past the point for any teasing. Maybe she should have told him that their new deal also meant that they were going to be ratcheting up the lovemaking a few notches. "You know it," she said, with a hint of annoyance, as she kissed him, this time with much more passion. "Not to be critical… but the future mother of your children has a known low tolerance for frustration. A word to the wise… maybe it's time that you stopped with the incessant talking and did something about it."

When she was right, she was right. Chuck scooped Sarah up, carried her to his bed, and sighed. It had been a hell of a week. The most beautiful woman in the world was lying on his bed, wearing only her sexy stockings, making no move to cover any of her amazing body. She was literally trembling with desire, but also, not so patiently, waiting for him to take control. It was almost surreal. And the best part? This was something that she wanted more than he did, something that he could look forward to repeating every day for the rest of his life. So as soon as he had his own clothes off, he smiled at her.

"Welcome home, Sarah Walker."

The End

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